It's All in the Genes
by sydXstacy
Summary: Rose Richter is a geneticist descended from Gregor Mendel. Nikola Tesla calls her up one day to ask for her help in saving the life of Helen Magnus, one of her dear friends. But is that all Nikola wants? Tesla/OC. Rated M for later chapters.
1. Ruža

Rose weakly opened her eyes in the darkness, an irritating buzzing sound disturbing her deep slumber. She spotted the hazy shape of her cell phone and picked it up, flipping it open and pressing the speaker to her ear.

"Könnten Sie später zurückrufen?" She said groggily, glancing over at the clock to see 3:00 in glaring red lights.

"Must you answer the phone in German?" A soft voice said through the phone, followed by a small chuckle.

A pang of recognition resounded through Rose's mind and she bolted upright in her bed.

"Tesla, you had better have a damn good reason for bugging me at such an early hour. I'm teaching a class at 9 so you had better just tell me what you want." She said rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Cutting to the chase are we? And here I was hoping you would want to hear how my life was going…oh well. It would seem Rosie that Magnus needs your help with a little side project. She said you can even bring along your little plants and set them up in the laboratory."

Rose rolled her eyes and thought for a moment, glancing over to a large calendar on her wall. Circled in black sharpie was the 13th, exactly three days away. That was the day she would officially be quitting her job at the University of Cologne.

"Alright Tesla, I'll be on the next possible flight as soon as I get packed." She sighed, closing the phone so she wouldn't have to hear any remarks from Tesla.

Her eyes closed before she finally stood up from the bed and stretched her whole body out. Slowly she made her way around her apartment, first to find a large duffle bag the second time to throw things at it in the hopes they would make their way in. The sky outside was still dark by the time Rose had finished putting all of her clothes and toiletries in the bag. She zipped the bag closed and glanced around her hotel room, spotting nothing of hers she left the apartment and headed to her car.

It was a short trip to the airport, on the way she called the airport to get their earliest flight out to England. She booked her ticket for 7 that morning, meaning she wouldn't get into England until 8 their time. A small huff came from her when the plane had landed. It was the exact type of English summer that she had not prepared for; she would have to go clothes shopping soon and drag Will or Tesla along to carry the bags. She picked up her bag from the luggage return and quickly hailed a cab out of the airport and to the sanctuary.

Coming upon the old gothic structure Rose felt her heart rise up into her throat. She reached into one of her inside coat pockets, pulling out a few pounds she handed them to the man in the cab and grabbed her bag. A trembling finger pushed the white button by two large wooden doors.

"Magnus it's me, Rosie." She said, smiling up into the camera.

A small noise came from the door and it pulled back from Rose, revealing a smiling Will. The two embraced in a big hug and when Will finally did pull back he tousled the long brown tresses of Rose's curly hair.

"It's so good to see you again Will! How has everything been going since my last visit?" She said beaming with happiness until she realized her hair was in a shambles. There was a small grumbling as she smoothed out her hair.

"Well, that's what we wanted you here for. We are in need of some help with Helen." He said, dropping his smile a little bit.

"Spit it out Will." She said, letting the corners of her mouth falter for a moment.

"Helen is dying."

She put a hand to her mouth, hiding the look of surprise from Will.

"Honestly William, don't be so dramatic. Our little Rosie here is much too fragile for your notions of dying. Helen is nearly 160 years old; I doubt that this little thing will knock her out so easily." Nikola said coming from around the door and gently nudging Will out of the way.

Rose wrinkled her nose slightly and hit Nikola on the shoulder, receiving a pained look from him in return.

"Insensitive trottel." She pushed past him and put her arm around Will's.

She could nearly feel Tesla's smirk burning a hole in the back of her head, she could only scowl at the space in front of her.

"I'll have you know my research has done much more good than yours has. So I suppose that would make you the trottel, dear Ruža." He said catching up with them.

"Don't be mad just because Magnus wanted someone still practicing to help you out with this problem." Will said scolding Nikola as he led the two down to the labs.

Nikola just rolled his eyes and held the door into the lab open for Rose, but forgot to leave it open for Will and 'accidentally' he let the door hit Will. Nikola laughed, watching as Will walked off seeming to take the hint to leave the two to their work.

"Alright Nikola, what's your problem?" Rose said, setting her duffle bag on the floor.

She crossed her arms, using this as an opportunity to take in Nikola's appearance. He was wearing a dark, navy blue suit with a white silken undershirt. It was a very classical style, typical Nikola. His hair still stood up, just like the last time he had met. Of course the clock had stopped on him some time ago, it was only natural he look near the same. He made her seem so innocent even for her younger age. She was barely entering into her thirties, having just completed her doctorate in Genetics, with another in ancient history her absolute favorite subject. Currently she wore a black navy peacoat, the reached down to about mid-thigh on her. Underneath it she wore khaki pants and a white polo shirt.

"I just thought you would want some time alone with one of the greatest minds. Don't fret over William, he's probably fine. But as to why you are here, Rosie… Helen is of course dying. She is suffering from a rare disease only contracted by those who travel between dimensional rifts without proper qualifications." He said walking over to a computer screen, typing in a few things before showing the screen to Rose.

"As you can see her blood platelets are grouping together at an alarming rate. We thought her only hope would be to find what we call Hollow Earth. But, since she believes your research into human blood and genetics has reached a head she wished that you would come down and help solve the puzzle." Nikola said picking up a glass of wine from the table.

As he casually sipped on his wine Rose pulled out a fresh notebook and a pencil. She began to make notes about how the blood was sticking together, the amount of time it takes and the like. Nikola glanced over her shoulder, following the furious scribbles with great ease.

"You know how I work Nikola. I just need a cot set up in the corner and one meal every so often. And since we are going to be working together, this will be a sterile work environment and you will not have a drop of alcohol near any of this." She said stopping her writing long enough to take the glass from Nikola and set it down on the tabletop.

"As long as I can still drink outside of this workspace we won't have a problem at all." He said frowning and walking just outside the door.

She laughed a little and shook her head slightly. At least he would abide by her rules for now, but the more rigorous the work became the more flexible she would have to be.

"I nearly forgot my manners, would you like a drink Rosie?" He said taking one final sip of his wine before he began to walk away.

"I don't drink and work Nikola. We all can't have a tolerance like yours!" She yelled a little, watching his retreating form.

The door shut and she set to work utilizing the DNA samples from Magnus. She also used a syringe to take a vial of her own blood to test out any extraneous theories. After a few hours Nikola still hadn't come back and Will had only dropped by to leave a cot for Rose. Many apparatuses were lain out on the table before her, testing iron levels and the counts of her red and white blood cells. Just as she was about to put her own blood through a ring of tests she heard a knock on the lab door. She pulled back from the desk and whirled around in her chair, seeing Nikola standing at the door this time absent any glass. She went over and opened the door, giving him enough time to step through before she shut it.

"I've already started setting up the different tests to find a cause for this blood disorder… At least a quantifiable cause." She said turning back to the desk, running her blood through various tests to make sure they were working properly.

"Hmm, your iron levels have been low. Have you been eating well at all these past years my dear Rosie?" He said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She shrugged off his hand and shook her head lightly, turning to look at him.

"The last time you saw me Nikola I only had a bachelor's in genetics. These years we've been apart were hard on me with all the schooling I had to go through. So many experiments, and I couldn't get the full joy out of them. It's tragic when your own work can't be done throughout the day…" She said sighing and leaning back into the chair.

Nikola only nodded and took note of the slower movements she was exhibiting since she had first arrived. He moved his hand back up to her shoulder and gave it a re-assuring rub.

"Perhaps you should lay down for a bit. You did after all get up so terribly early, which I must apologize for but we did need you here immediately. And like you said, not everyone can be as adamant about their projects as I can." He said giving her a little smirk.

She smiled playfully at him and batted his hand away. Her work went on for the next few hours with Nikola glancing over her shoulder to make any corrections. At about four in the afternoon Rose had started to doze off, her head resting on another end of the desk away from all of their apparatuses. She could have sworn something had been draped around her before she drifted off into a sound sleep.


	2. The Million Dollar Question

By the time Rose had woken up, it was the dead of night. Rose yawned slightly, sitting up on the cot. A dark blue suit jacket that was draped over her as a blanket pooled in her lap. She glanced over to see Tesla bent over one of the microscopes, more than likely examining one of the blood samples. She stood up and neatly folded the jacket, placing it back on the cot before she headed over to the workbench. Her head rested on Nikola's shoulder so she could sneak a peek at the work he was doing.

"Hey Nikola, did you put me to bed?" Rose said, watching the two samples of blood spin in a centrifuge.

"Yes I did. You're quite cute when you sleep Rosie. But do tell me, who is Albert?" He looked at her out of the corner of his eye while adding a dye solution to the blood.

"He was a friend of Will's, and an ex-boyfriend of mine." She frowned slightly and began to move away from Nikola.

He looked away from what he was doing and gently grabbed her wrist. She looked up into his eyes for the first time, his blue-grey eyes boring a hole into her.

"Nikola I don't want to talk about him." She said sternly, pulling her wrist away from him.

He stood up and pulled her into his arms, gently rubbing her back. Rose just stood there and blinked, not used to Nikola show so much affection to anyone. She just chalked it up to his being human again, and having more emotions to deal with. But it pained her a little to think that about him.

"I know Rosie. Will told me what happened with him. It's alright if you don't want to talk about it, but eventually you'll have to talk to someone." He said, waiting a moment before releasing her.

Rose looked down at the floor and nodded her head. Of course she hadn't wanted to talk about Albert; the man was a menace that she had been rid of for four years. The memories were still there, and so were the scars. But, that was for another time. Now she needed to help Nikola in saving Helen's life.

"Thanks Nikola… Where's Helen?" She said softly, looking to the door of the lab.

"She is detained at the moment. There's a cockroach that she has to deal with. I'm certain she'll be by later to see you." He held up a wine glass for her to take.

She nearly scowled at the thought of him drinking and working on such an important project. Rose took the glass and scowled at him before leaving the lab. Her eyes wandered around the halls as she walked down to the wine cellar. Instead of finding a wine cellar she found a library full of books. The wine glass made its way on one of the tables, while Rose ran a hand over a thick leather bound book. She paid little attention to the title, finding it full of information about different kinds of abnormals. One section in particular caught her eye, it was a chapter entirely devoted to those who utilize chlorokinesis.

She scanned the pages, and was reminded of the first time she came to the sanctuary when she was little.

* * *

_It was raining outside that day too. A young girl stood in the library of the Sanctuary, a grey cloak wrapped around her soaking wet body. She was only 10, her hair was still its natural bright red and bright green eyes looked up at the man in front of her. He was lean, in the same dark navy suit she would see numerous times when she stayed at the Sanctuary. His hand was outstretched in a manner of peace offering._

_"I'm Nikola Tesla. What's your name little one?" He said smiling to the young girl._

_She swatted at his hand, allowing the hood of her cloak to fall down from her face. Nikola looked hurt for a second, but laughed off her attempt at harming him._

_"I don't like you. You drink from poor plants that didn't do anything to you." Her features softened as she looked to the wine glass in his other hand._

_Helen approached her from the side, kneeling down slightly and placing a hand on the younger girls shoulder. Rose turned her head to look at Helen, green eyes brimming with tears. She allowed Helen to wrap her up in a hug as she cried about the grapes that had been made just to be killed and allowed to ferment into a wine, for people like Nikola. Nikola shifted around on his feet and set the wine glass out of the girls view. He knelt down on one knee by the time she had calmed down and looked at him._

_"I'm sorry that I seemed to have offended you. I really meant no harm; I thought you were only joking with me at first. So can we still be friends?" He said, opening his arms._

_The girl hesitantly nodded but stayed in Helen's arms, still not wanting to be around him just yet. Helen smiled a little and stood with Nikola, Rose standing in between them with her body pressed to Helen._

_I'm sorry Nikola, I should have told you but I didn't know you would bring wine around a child. This is Rosella Lena Richter. She's a chlorokinetic. That means she has limited control over the plants and they…talk to her." Helen said, placing a hand on top of the girls head. _

_The little girl nodded sullenly, looking back up at Nikola. Nikola glanced down at Rose then back up to Helen._

_"And why is she here?" Nikola said, moving to sit on a couch in the library._

_Open on the table in front of the couch was a book about the special type of abnormal that Rose was._

_"Apparently when she was at school a boy was picking on her. She began to get upset and the boy found himself on the wrong end of her wrath." She said gently nudging the little girl to sit across from Nikola._

_"So I take it we are now saddled with her?" Nikola said, absent mindedly taking his wine glass._

_"Quite right. But, I am making arrangements for her to have private tutors here until she is old enough to go to school." Helen said, shooting him a look for having the wine glass._

_Nikola paused for a moment to assess the situation. Rose, an abnormal child would be staying here with them. He wasn't quite sure how to take the news; of course this would mean a decrease in his wine consumption. Then, something clicked in his mind._

_"Helen, just out of curiosity who is going to be tutoring her?" He said narrowing his eyes slightly._

_"I thought we should tutor her. We were some of the brightest minds in our time, who would be better to teach her?" She said smiling, taking her seat next to Rose._

_"Ah yes, stroking my ego just so I'll do what you want. Well, luckily for you I'm feeling generous. I'll tutor her myself and I'll even help her to control this little plant problem. It can't be much harder than electricity." He grinned at Helen, allowing his ego to feel a little bit better about the compliment of his genius._

_

* * *

_

The next few years had passed by in such a blur, it seemed like only yesterday she was leaving sanctuary to attend The Westgate School. It was quite an interesting boarding school, at which she received top marks in the areas of science and mathematics. Of course she would come home to the Sanctuary for holiday and have Nikola's teachings repeated to her multiple times. She smiled and turned a page in the book to see the picture her, Helen, and Nikola had taken together the day she had received her acceptance letter to the University of Cologne. Footsteps came from the entrance of the library and Rose looked up to see Nikola grinning at her.

"Anything I can help you with Nikola?" She said, putting the picture back into the book and closing it.

"Yes actually Rosie. Helen wants to see everyone in her office, in about an hour or so." He looked at the book she held and walked over to it, picking it up to place it back on the shelf.

"Reliving the past are we?" He said, placing the book back in its appropriate spot.

"Can't help it, life was fun back then. Especially your lectures, although I must say didn't like staying up to late to learn about your work." Rose stood up from her seat and straightened out her slacks.

Nikola nodded and held out his arm for her, which she reluctantly accepted. The two began making their way up to Helen's office.

"You must admit, I was a brilliant teacher. I'm sure none of your teachers had nearly as much experience as I did." He grinned at Rose and she could already tell someone had been stroking his ego.

"Yes, but none were near as humble as you were." Her hand went up to her mouth as she laughed.

Nikola shook his head and even went so far as to flick her shoulder.

"You kids these days understand nothing of true scientific work." He released her arm and held the door open to Helen's office.

Rose nearly ran in and immediately gave Helen a hug. Helen laughed and was taken slightly back at the force of the hug.

"Nice to know that you missed me all these years." She smiled and released the girl from her arms.

"I always miss you Aunt Helen. I just wish I would have come back under better circumstances." Rose frowned but then turned to see Nikola still standing in the doorframe with a cocky grin on his face.

"Rose, she's much older than you. Trust me, we'll figure this out." Nikola nodded to Helen, and then disappeared to go and get something.

Rose wrinkled her nose, still not understanding how Nikola could appear so neutral about the whole thing. The others began to come into the room, starting with John Druitt. She went over and began to exchange pleasantries with him before the others filtered in. By the time everyone had settled around it was time to get down to the business of handing over the map to Adam, or not.

"I will not let the map go into the hands of someone like Adam!" Helen said to John, clearly getting a little flustered.

Rose stood at the back of the room while everyone talked, contemplating how she felt about the whole situation. This Adam fellow seemed like a dangerous person, though once upon a time John too had been dangerous. Perhaps all Adam needed was to prove himself as John had, and there was always the bonus that if they did find Hollow Earth, Helen would be better in less time than it would take her and Tesla to find a cure. There was movement beside her and Rose turned her head to see Tesla returning with some papers in his hands. He smiled at Rose then made his way into the middle of the room.

"Well isn't this interesting? Apparently if the head of Sanctuary becomes incapacitated emotionally or physically, control of Sanctuary is turned over to the second in command." Nikola looked up from the papers and glance between Helen and Will.

"Nikola, that's cruel!" Rose said moving closer to the center of the room.

Helen simply pursed her lips, and looked away from Nikola. Now all eyes were on a very nervous Will.

"Well William, what do you want to do?"

* * *

_Sorry to leave everyone hanging. I will be sure to update as soon as possible. I would like to thank everyone that has read so far and added this story. You guys are amazing! I was so pleased with all of the views this story got, thank you all again. I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter._


	3. The Calm Before the Storm

Rose felt like the whole world for her had turned upside down in just a matter of minutes. Nikola had pushed Helen into a corner so that Will was now in charge of the Sanctuary network, and Will had asked Adam to show them how to get to Hollow Earth. Of course Rose had excused herself from the room, deciding to seek solace in her childhood room. In her hand she held a syringe full of a dark red substance.

* * *

_ Rose stood next to a few of her colleagues at the University of Cologne. They were in the office of one of their professors. He had called in some of his best students to help him do an analysis of a blood sample he found, perfectly preserved, while on an expedition with their biology professor._

_ "So as you can see, I wanted you three to have an opportunity to get some more lab work done. This is a rare vial of blood. The only problem is we need to analyze it to figure out exactly what it came from, and how old it is." Her professor had said, sitting back in his chair._

_ Rose was the only female that had the opportunity to work on the project. For weeks they had worked tirelessly, it was only after the second month of running different tests on the blood that she hit a realization. She knew the structure of the blood cells already and had realized that she had seen it somewhere before, in the Sanctuary. Helen was called a little while later, and she had come out to see Rose._

_ After Rose had confirmed that the blood her professors had found was indeed Source blood, Rose managed to steal the blood away. Not that she didn't want it to be safely locked up in the Sanctuary, she just figured it would be easier for everyone to lose track of the blood. With it safely away from everyone, Rose hid it in her apartment, not bothering to even check on it until the day Nikola had called her back to the sanctuary._

* * *

Nikola came into the room a little while later, usual glass of wine in hand. He sat himself next to her on the bed, smug look on his face.

"Aren't you glad that Magnus will be able to get healed now?" He took a few sips before looking around for a place to set his glass.

"I am. But you could have used a little more tact. You know more than anyone what she went through just to keep this place together." Rose pouted a little and casted a sideways glance to her duffle bag.

Nikola nodded and followed her gaze to the bag, seeing nothing he turned his sights back on the young abnormal.

"I take it that you'll be staying with us on a more permanent basis? After all, you did bring everything out here, and if I might be frank Rosie you need to do some shopping. We can't have you running around here in whatever you could put in that bag." Nikola motioned to the still full duffel bag that lay in the corner of the room.

Rose titled her head to look at Nikola, studying his features. He seemed to genuinely be happy that she was staying; however she couldn't help but think that he knew something was off about her. She smiled after a moment, deciding it was better to be happy with her family at Sanctuary than be paranoid about the smartest man she'd met.

Helen had thought to set up her childhood bedroom with a few extras, the extras being a privacy curtain around her bed, a new desk, with her old reading books, and a mirror just above her dresser. It was still a lovely cream color, with solid wood floors and a large bed with semi see through curtains draped across the top and sides to provide additional covering. Rose ran a hand on top of the blue and brown swirled covers, feeling that they were made of a warmer woolen material.

"Well, I'm fairly certain you want to change out of those clothes and take a shower. I'll leave you to it, but meet me in Will's office and we'll see if he can't help me out a little bit with a slight cash flow problem."

Nikola stood up and taking Rose's hand in his, placed a small kiss on it. Rose bowed her head slightly, hiding the bit of blush that decorated her cheeks.

Nikola left her room, and she let out a breath she had been holding in. She smiled to herself and shut the door to her room before she turned to her duffle bag. Slacks were placed in drawers, blouses and the two dresses she had ever own were hung up on hangers in her rather spacious closet. She took special care with the vial of blood, deciding to place it in the desk until she could hollow out a book for it. With the bag empty, she discarded it in an arm chair that sat in the corner of the room. Rose walked over to her dresser, staring at her reflection in the mirror that hung above it for a moment before she grabbed a hair tie and pulled her hair back into a bun at the back of her head.

She wore no makeup, but there were dark circles under her eyes from the lack of sleep while working at the university. Her lips turned up in a smile and she walked over to the closet, turning on the small light inside. Once her eyes adjusted she ran her hands along the section of closet reserved for her dresses. Her hands fell upon a chiffon fabric she didn't recognize, so she pulled the dress out. It was indeed a dress that wasn't in her closet before from what she could remember. The olive dress had a high empire waist, allowing the layers of the ruffled skirt to be showcased. It had two straps on either side for sleeves, and wrapped around to connect at the back of her neck. It would leave her back bare, reveal some amount of cleavage, and only come to her knee.

She made a small noise and took the dress to lie out on her bed. The dress was draped carefully on her bed and she ran over to the dresser to retrieve some black stockings to wear with the outfit. Her clothes from the past day were discarded on the floor to be picked up later, and the lovely olive dress was held up to her body as she glanced in the mirror. She mentally scolded herself for not working out more while she had the chance, the dress would fit but it would be snug and there was no telling if her bosoms would hold up in the built in bra.

Her arms held the dress out and she carefully stepped into it, pulling the dress up until it covered her body. The straps hung loosely in front of her chest and she had almost wished for a second that Nikola had stayed to help her. One arm held the top of the dress up while the other reached for the handle of her door. She poked her head out, looking for anyone that could help her.

"Will?" She said, stepping out into the hallway.

She frowned and began to call for the different occupants of the Sanctuary. Her efforts were thus far fruitless, a sigh escaped her lips but she refused to allow such a lovely dress to go to waste. Rounding a corner she heard footsteps heading her way, she ran towards the footsteps nearly running into a very surprised Nikola.

"Well, this is quite a surprise. My birthday isn't for a little while though Rosie, although I do appreciate the early present." He chuckled and gave her a small smirk.

Rose rolled her eyes and made a motion to the dress that she was wearing.

"Really Nikola, don't be so childish. I'm sure you enjoy watching me in this position and in such fervor, but I really do need your help. This dress that you've had made for me is perhaps the most stunning dress that I've ever owned, but it can't be buttoned unless I have help with it." She frowned slightly, pointing to the straps that were dangling about the front of the dress.

Nikola genuinely smiled this time, pleased that she had enjoyed the dress. He moved behind her, holding the straps up so she could put her arms through.

"Perhaps next time I should just help you pick out your wardrobe so you won't be in such a compromising position?" Nikola said, his fingertips just barely touching her back as he pulled the connecting straps together to button them.

She blushed and felt her body shiver at the contact of their skin. Nikola took notice but decided to make no comment; instead he reached a hand up after buttoning the dress and released her hair from its bun.

"You really should let your hair down more, it suits you." He went around to stand in front of her, admiring her in the dress.

It hugged her hips, flaring out slightly as the skirt made its way past her knees. The green color of the dress really did bring out her eyes, and with her hair down she looked as though she just stepped out of an enchanted forest. He had wanted the dress to be shorter but her modesty would always remain important to Helen, so they instead opted on a knee length dress.

"Thank you Nikola, for the dress. It is the best one I've ever owned I would think." She smiled and wrapped her arms around him loosely in a hug.

Nikola smiled at her, wrapping his arms around her waist and giving her a little squeeze. He escorted her back to her room after a while and waited outside while she finished getting ready. When she came out she wore nude stockings and a pair of black heels, making her a considerable amount taller. She could feel his eyes on her, even when she wasn't in the room it was like he followed her.

"So, what's on the agenda for today Nikola?" He linked her arm with his and began to lead her down the hallway.

"I thought you would accompany me while I make William's job a little harder." He smirked and watched as she placed her other hand on his arm.

"You're too hard on him. He means well."

Rose pursed her lips but followed Nikola, it would do her some good to be around Nikola, even though it was hard to get him to act like the older Serbian gentleman that she knew he could be. When they approached Will's office she was the one to knock on the door, waiting the appropriate moment before entering with Nikola.

"What do you want Nikola?" Will said, glancing up from the sea of papers on his desk.

"I need $250,000." Nikola smirked and casted a glance back to Rosie.

Rose laughed a little, and made her way over to Will. He looked more frazzled than usual, and Nikola's sudden need for money certainly didn't help his demeanor.

"What for?" He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

Nikola returned the question with a smirk and a remark about how Helen would need the cloaking device to be up and operational in a short amount of time for travel to Hollow Earth. Will rolled his eyes and led the two out of his office into the main, foyer.

There was a knock at the door and Rose went to answer while Will and Nikola talked. Standing on the other side was a woman in a modern suit, hair pulled back from her face. She had to have been younger than Rose, or very close to her age.

"Can I help you miss…?" Rose said talking a half step backwards, eyes shifting to see Nikola and Will.

"Corrigan. Agent Corrigan, actually. I was wondering if I could speak to your boss, I have a few questions?" The woman said, extending her hand out to shake hands with Rose.

Rose looked at the woman's hand, Nikola and Will moved to her sides. Rose took a few steps back allowing the woman to step in. She seemed to know Will, making small talk with him. Nikola made a small motion with his hand and a few buttons from the woman's blouse came undone. Will and Rose shot him a look but he just gave them a smirk and walked off, Rose quickly following behind him.

"Don't look so upset. Will obviously likes her I was just…helping out." He laughed and gave her a soft pat on the shoulder, ignoring the sour look she gave him.

"Nikola, that still isn't right. It made Will uncomfortable. Besides, you shouldn't meddle in affairs of the heart, it will happen naturally if it's meant to be. Now, you have work to do. I will be busy studying in the library." She hit his shoulder lightly, making her way back to the library.

Nikola tilted his head slightly, but said nothing as she left. In truth, she had just wanted to be away from everyone and take a quick nap. When she got to the library she placed herself in one of the couches and stretched out, sleep taking her quickly.

* * *

_Alright guys, I have been terribly busy so I am so sorry for these being out in such an untimely manner. However, to make up for this I am posting two chapters tonight and will post another next weekend. Remember, criticism is appreciated. :D_


	4. Guns Are Bad

Will walked into the library, finding Rosella asleep on the couch with Nikola's coat jacket draped over her. It was almost night and they needed her help with finding out who was killing the abnormals. His hand was on her shoulder, shaking her before she bolted awake. She glared at will halfheartedly before she looked at the jacket in front of her.

"Don't you know it's quite rude to wake a sleeping beauty?" She said, putting a hand to her mouth as she yawned.

"I know, and I'm really sorry. But, we are going out to a memorial service, and we need some additional backup in case there's trouble." He said, moving back to give her room to stand.

Rose raised an eyebrow, thinking for a moment before she looked down at her attire. She would definitely need to change, especially if there would be trouble.

"Give me five minutes to change; I'll meet you guys out front." She hurried off to her room with the jacket in hand, leaving her high heels just outside of the room.

The soft movement of shoes on her carpeted floor followed her, so she moved behind the door of her closet. Her clothes were removed as she began to make conversation with Nikola.

"If you insist on trying to see me naked you could at least be a little quieter about it." The dress was hung back up and a pair of black stockings was tossed across the room.

His chuckle resounded through the room and sent a small shiver down her spine. As she pulled on a pair of dark jeans she paused, hearing him move from the door to her bed.

"My dear Rosie, there have been many opportunities to see you naked in your lifetime. If I had desired to I would have, but I must admit it wouldn't compare to seeing you fully clothed and letting my mind wander." She heard him take a drink from his wine glass before it was set down on his bedside table.

She rolled her eyes and stepped out of the closet after she had put on a white tank top with a blue button up shirt on over it.

"Please try to act your age for another day; I actually enjoy you when you're a gentleman. You can go back to being a crude vampiric doctor once we're done today." There was a scowl on her face as he eyed her shirt.

She buttoned it, leaving the top three undone for breathing room. For a moment she stopped to look at him, he was wearing a crisp white shirt and black slacks. The ensemble looked a little incomplete without the jacket but he would no doubt retrieve that before she left. Nikola held his hand out for her and she took it. He pulled her body close to his, her breath catching in her throat. Her cheek pressed against his shoulder, feeling the pulsing heartbeat produced from their close proximity.

When she finally found air, she breathed in his scent and closed her eyes. It wasn't the same scent as when he had been a vampire. Then he had smelled strongly of ozone and the faintest hint of metal. Now he smelled of red wine, and age.

She froze for a moment as Nikola's hands rand over a scar across her shoulders, unsure if he could feel it through the fabric. His head turned and he planted a small kiss on her temple before he reluctantly allowed himself to pull away.

"I don't mean to be so terrible. I suppose you being back reminded me of when I was still powerful. You haven't been back since it happened, I was…angered about it. I still am, especially since you left us with so little a goodbye." He quietly spoke to her, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Rose nodded, a frown placed upon her face. She felt her eyes fill a little with salty tears, a small cold ball of grief filling the pit of her stomach. A lone tear traveled down her face before Nikola reached his hand out to wipe away the tear with his thumb.

"I'm sorry Nikola… I wasn't thinking. I spent so much time here, I just wanted to live on my own for a while, without worrying about abnormals, or overprotective vampires." She sniffled softly and allowed the remainder of her tears to be wiped away.

He smiled at her and nodded his head, understanding the sentiment completely. He had left the Sanctuary too, but they both had managed to make it back for better or worse. There was a moment with his fingers sprawled across her cheek that he could feel the heat beneath them. Their moment was interrupted by Will knocking on the frame of the door. Rose turned her head away from both of them and Nikola quickly retracted his hand.

"Are you guys okay in here…?" Will shifted his gaze between Nikola and the back of Rose's head.

Nikola cleared his throat and excused himself from the room, leaving a blushing Rosella alone with Will. Will looked at Rose, his head tilted slightly to the side as he tried to figure out what had happened. She dabbed her eyes lightly with the sleeve of her shirt, making it a darker shade of blue. When she finally turned around to face Will her eyes were redder and red marks had formed just under her eyes.

"Is everything ok Rose?" He came closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder. She nodded and smiled to him, placing her hand on top of his for reassurance.

"Ah, yes I'm fine Will. Just a little emotional is all."

Will gave her a look and removed his hand, reaching for a gun he had in his coat pocket. He handed it to Rose, watching as she placed it in a small holster on the side of her pants. She then walked over to her closet and pulled out her black pea coat, leaving it unbuttoned so she could easily reach the gun.

"Are you sure you still know how to use one of those?" He tilted his head and made a motion with his hands to where the gun was.

Rose looked down for a moment as if thinking, eventually nodding her head before she would look up at him again.

"It may have been over four years since I last used one, but it's like riding a bike. You never forget." She smiled at him and the two walked out into the main area of the Sanctuary.

Rose noted that Nikola had decided not to join them, but she assumed he was still working on the vampire cloaking device. This brought a frown to her face, but she would have Will there to help protect her if something went wrong. The big guy, or Bigfoot as some of them called him, was also joining them and Kate. They all piled into one car and were headed off to the memorial service, with Will filling Rose in on what was going down.

"So, we think someone is going to try and kill abnormals at the memorial?" Rose said, reaching a hand down to make sure that her gun was loaded.

"That's right. So we've told everyone else that the memorial service has been moved, hopefully we'll find the person behind this." Will said, turning his eyes back on the road.

It was completely dark by the time they had made it to the church. Kate, Bigfoot, and Will would go in first with Rose waiting outside in case anything was to happen. She let the others go in and hid herself in the shadows by the door, gun in hand. While she waited outside the door she saw a car across the street with a young woman in it. From this distance she couldn't be sure but it looked to be the agent from earlier. Rose looked at the door as she heard a loud noise and watched as a man in dark clothes ran out of the church, Bigfoot following close behind. Rose ran behind the two, trying to remain as quiet as possible. Her legs began to throb and her dress shoes made clicking noises on the pavement as she ran.

She began to lose sight of them and heard gunshots coming from the direction she was headed. Her stomach churned, the smell of blood beginning to fill the night air. The gun was in front of her as she stepped behind the man, ordering to turn around and drop his weapon. He turned and his arms were raised up, the gun still hot in his hand. There was a moment that she faltered, she saw him in clothes meant for priest and felt her gun lower half an inch. That was all the man in front of her needed, he brought his hand down on hers to knock the gun away and fired when he had a clear shot of her body. The gun went off in a loud noise, drowning out the footsteps behind them.

Rose opened her mouth to scream but found that her voice wouldn't come out, only blood that dribbled down her chin. There was an excruciating pain in her chest, and her lip trembled softly. Tears began to fall from her face and she finally crumpled into a heap on the ground next to her gun, blacking out.

* * *

Nikola had finished the cloaking device when they brought both of them in. While they were out on the mission Rose had gotten shot in the stomach, the bullet missed her vital organs but came very close to rupturing her spleen. Nikola took Rose from Will, allowing him to help Kate carry Bigfoot. Her face was getting paler from the blood loss and Nikola had to hurry so he could stabilize her. They all made a dash for the infirmary rooms, Nikola taking special care to lay Rose on her side.

He grabbed clothing shears off of the metal table next to her bed and began cutting through her shirt and tank top. He gently lifted her body up and removed her clothes. There was a deep frown on his face as he saw the ugly mark of a bullet hole against her stomach, he had to work quickly. Nikola went right to work putting an IV in her arm and helping Nikola with running ultrasounds and other test to make sure she wasn't having much internal bleeding.

As he was stitching up her wounds Nikola noticed a few scars along her back. One was light pink and ran from the tip of her scapula to close to her tailbone. There were of course others, but they didn't seem to be as big or as deep as the larger one had. Nikola got curious, so when they sat her up and began to wrap gauze around her middle he paid close attention to see if there were any others. His suspicions were correct; along her ribcage was a two to three inch scar that would fall in between two of her ribs.

Rose had finally been bandaged up, stabilized and dressed in a type of hospital gown. In the next room the big guy had also been stabilized through Helen's help, and everyone felt simply exhausted.

"Is she alright Nikola?" Helen stepped into the room, watching as the monitors beeped to Rose's now steady heart.

Nikola glanced at the younger woman on the table and nodded, picking up his notes on her condition.

"She'll live, but it will take some time for her to recover fully. She will not be able to do much for some time without risk of pulling open the stitches." He frowned and pulled a chair up next to her bed, staring down at her unconscious form.

Helen nodded and studied Nikola's face for a moment, his eyes were narrowed but they seemed warm when Rose was in the room. She made a small noise before excusing herself to check on everyone else. Nikola watched Helen leave, one of his hands moving up to stroke Rose's cheek. He sighed softly, laying his head on the bed next to Rose.

It was nearly dawn when Rose finally managed to slip back into consciousness. She would have jolted awake if it wasn't for the arm draped across her chest. Her stomach muscles contracted slightly, causing a small whimper of pain to come from her throat. Nikola nearly jumped out of his seat, quickly realizing that Rose had made the noise.

"Are you alright Rose? What hurts?" He said pushing a few strands of hair back from her face.

"It's alright Nikola, I'm just realizing for the first time that guns are bad, especially if I don't have the gun." She winced a little as she tried to sit up, one hand resting just above her wound.

Nikola nodded and lifted her hospital gown slightly to look at the bandages, to make sure she hadn't bled through. Rose blushed and tried to swat his hand away, wanting to keep some modesty even though she wasn't certain that he had seen more of her body that she would have allowed.

"Rose modesty is very becoming of you, but I have to make sure that you didn't tear open your stitches." Nikola ran a hand very carefully over her bandages, feeling for the bumps of her stitches.

She cried out softly as he ran his hand over her sensitive flesh, her hands pushing him away. Nikola frowned slightly and waited for her to fix the hospital gown. He shook her head and sat down in front of her, his eyes evaluating her status quietly.

"Rose it's about time we talked about Albert. I saw the scars when I was stitching you up…" He quietly spoke to her, glancing at the door to see if anyone was coming.

Rose froze in her spot, her green eyes boring into his blue ones. She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, trying to grasp at the right words to find. Her head shook and she opened her eyes to defy him.

"I don't think I can Nikola. It was just too painful…"

"Rosie, my dear you have to tell someone. I'm certain he was the one that gave you those scars, and I know you. I know you wouldn't have seen any professional help about this so why not talk to me? You used to tell me everything, don't hide from me now." He stroked her cheek, watching as tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

She wanted to cry terribly, but she knew it would only make her stomach hurt worse. He was right; of course she would need to talk about this. She just worried how he would take what she had to tell him.

"Alright Nikola, you win. I'll tell you everything you want to know."


	5. The Kiss

Rose felt a stinging in her abdomen but brushed it off as she scooted on the bed to make room for Nikola. He reluctantly sat on the bed and took her hand in his.

"He was a good man when we first met, always kind and never wanting to let me down. I guess the problems didn't start until the year before I left…" Rose looked out her window for a moment, eyes glistening with the beginnings of tears.

* * *

_ It had been a normal day thus far. She had asked her previous teacher if she could borrow the genetics lab to run a couple of experiments. Albert stood off to the side; he was a muscular man and stood almost a foot taller than Rose. He was muscular and wore blue jeans, a tight fitting black shirt and black sneakers. Albert had been her boyfriend for over a year, and much to Helen's disapproval he was a few years older than her._

_ "What exactly are you doing Rosie?" Albert said, his eyes traveling to the computer screen Rose was sitting in front of._

_ "Don't call me Rosie, there's only one person allowed to get away with that. And…I'm just running a couple blood analyses." She turned her attention to him for the briefest of seconds, watching as the smile on his face fell._

_ "Hun, I have a question for you." He moved into the chair next to her, resting his elbow on the desk._

_ "Shoot."_

_ "How come you don't talk about your parents?" There was a sigh that followed and she swiveled around in her chair to face him fully._

_ "I'm adopted. My parents didn't want me. They left me with people who turned out to care for me more than my parents ever could. Why are you so curious?" She narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest._

_ Albert shrugged, and leaned in to give her a quick smooch on the cheek. Her head pulled back from him, looking back at her research. The computer made a few noises and she stifled a surprised gasp. She had heard Albert talking a few days ago about his father that lived in Germany, the alleged descendant of a famous scientist. That was the first time she had suspected something funny about him._

_ On the computer screen were two different DNA samples, one was hers and the other was Albert's. Around half of their mitochondrial DNA was the same. Rose felt like she was going to be sick._

_

* * *

_

"He was your half-brother?" Nikola said, his face paling slightly at the thought of them being together.

"Yes. But, I hadn't wanted to be intimate with him. I don't believe in sleeping with just anybody. I only want to sleep with someone I love, and I didn't love Albert." She smiled weakly then relaxed against the pillows on her bed.

"Of course, you've always had good morals. Thank heavens you picked up Helen's." They both shared a laugh, and then everything went quiet for a moment.

"I ended up breaking up with Albert, and I told him we were siblings. He didn't believe me; he thought I was in love with someone else." She sighed and put her right arm across her stomach, coughing as she felt a sharp pain.

Nikola tilted his head slightly, wondering who Albert thought this other person was but allowed her to continue. She gave his hand a gentle squeeze, perhaps to assure herself that he wouldn't go anywhere.

"He had always been jealous of everyone here; to him all of you took me away from him. Albert dropped off the face of the earth until that first week I was in Cologne. It was my surprise when he came into the nursery where I was working."

* * *

_Rose stood amongst rows of flowers with a pad of paper and a pencil. Her attire was a simple black dress and sand colored sandals. She was examining most of the roses and making note of which ones would needed to be gotten rid of before they were pollinated. The door to the greenhouse opened and Rose glanced up from her pad._

_ "I'll be with you in a minute!" She yelled, putting a few more notes down about the new batch of pink roses._

_ There was a sound of metal clicking behind her and she whirled around quickly. Standing there was Albert, a knife gripped tightly in his hand. Rose's eyes went wide with fear as he approached her with the knife. He grabbed her arm with his free hand and she began to struggle against him._

_ "Let me go Albert!" She took the pen and stabbed the hand holding her so harshly._

_ Albert cried out and let her go, his hand bleeding profusely from the wound. Rose took this opportunity and began to run to the front of the nursery, screaming for help as she went. She had nearly reached the door when Albert ran up behind her and sliced her back deeply with the knife, the tip glancing off of her scapula. Tears began to pour from her eyes and spill onto the cement as she fell forward on her face. She felt him straddle her hips, attempting to pin her to the ground._

_ "I don't care if you are my sister, no one will ever love you as much as I do. And I'll make damn sure no one can love you after me!" He began swinging the knife wildly, cutting into the flesh of her back._

_ Rose screamed and thrashed against the ground, reaching out with her mind to any of the plants around her. A thick thorned vine lashed out, wrapping itself around Albert's wrist. He howled in pain and cut the offending vine off, throwing it to the ground as best he could. Rose's body was turned over, she was bloody and in near shock but she was still alive._

_ Albert glared down at her and motioned to the vine, pressing her body harder to the ground. Rose cried out, feeling gravel and cement dig into the wounds on her back._

_ "What the hell are you, some kind of freak?" He screamed, smacking her in the face repeatedly._

_ Rose couldn't speak, she was in so much pain and now she was too scared to think about what he would do to her. Albert moved away from her, thinking to himself for a moment._

_ "No one is going to love you like I do." He spoke more to himself than her._

_ He moved back over, sitting down beside her. The knife was raised and he brought it down between two of her ribs. Rose's scream pierced the air, a high pitched noise. Over the next hour he tortured her, alternating between hitting her and carving her back up with the knife. Someone had some sense to call the cops amidst all the screams. When they arrived at the nursery Albert had turned her on her back and had her dress pushed up, exposing her undergarments. He had every intention of raping her, despite the fact she was bleeding to death and near unconscious._

_

* * *

_

By now thetears were rolling down Rose's face, and she was openly weeping over what had transpired. Nikola wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, reminding himself silently to be careful of her wound. Her arms immediately wrapped around him, her head resting on his shoulder. He rubbed her back softly, pressing his lips to her temple.

Eventually she had calmed down and Nikola spoke softly to her, his face still very close to hers.

"Did he…?" He stopped mid-sentence, not sure if he wanted to know the answer to the question.

"No. He would have if they had arrived later. I passed out in the ambulance so I didn't find out until later that they…examined me. Everything was still….there." She replied, blushing deeply at discussing this with him.

Nikola frowned and brought a hand up to her cheek, stroking it softly with his thumb.

"Rosie, don't be embarrassed. What happened to you was wrong; I only wish you would have told someone about it. We could have helped you."

Rose felt tears come to her eyes again and she nodded, knowing that he was upset with her. He made soft cooing noises, and she allowed herself to be comforted by Nikola. They held each other for a long time before Rose finally pulled back and looked into Nikola's eyes.

"Thank you Nikola, for everything." She flashed him a genuine smile and planted a kiss on his cheek.

Nikola smirked widely and returned with a kiss on her cheek. He released her and glanced at his watch, frowning as he noticed that he needed to get back to work.

"My dear Rosie, I have to leave now. I don't want you moving around too much, so stay here and I'll come and visit you when I'm done with the shield. Alright?" Nikola kissed her on the forehead and pulled himself away despite her pouting.

After hours of sitting Rose wanted to get up, she hated being still for too long. Rose frowned and sat on the very edge of the bed, testing her steadiness by pressing her feet on the ground. She stood up, pulling the IV out of her arm before she walked away from the bed. Henry ran up to her in the hallways, noticing she was still pale.

"Rose get back to your room! You shouldn't be up and walking around yet." He placed his hand on her arm in an attempt to guide her back to the infirmary.

She swatted at his hand and glared at him for a moment.

"I'm not a child. I'm quite capable of walking around by myself. It just happens I don't want to go back into the hospital wing. I'm just going to go and change, nothing too tiresome. I'll even have someone help me out so I don't tear open my stitches, just please let me go." Rosella gave Henry her biggest puppy dog eyes, leading to a loud groan from him.

"Alright, just be careful." Henry released him arm and watched as she stalked off down the hallway.

She hadn't remembered the last time she had been shot, if she ever had. But, this was a terrible pain to be hurt in the stomach. At least when she had been attacked by Albert the worst of pains were isolated in her back, and painkillers had taken care of a good portion of that. Rose scowled as she came upon her room, the door had been open and she hadn't remembered leaving it open. The door opened before her and there stood a very unhappy Nikola. A surprised squeak came from her and she looked around in a panic.

"Oh Nikola…I thought you were working?" She rubbed one of her arms and bit her bottom lip.

"I just wanted to see how long it would take you to disobey doctor's orders." Nikola's eyes narrowed, but he took a step back to allow her in the room. She sighed and lowered her head slightly, walking into the room with him. He placed a hand on the small of her back, motioning her towards the closet.

"Nikola…I need help. I can't bed over with this wound…" She spoke softly, glancing over at her dresser.

Nikola's face went blank for a moment; Rose was almost certain she could see a faint pink blush on the older man's face. He seemed nervous just then, if only for a second as she turned to look at him fully.

"Are you sure you wouldn't want someone else to help you? I could go get Kate…" He began to trail off, making his way to the door.

"Nikola, I want out of this damn hospital gown now. I'll go crazy waiting on Kate or Aunt Helen to get here. Either you help me or I try to do it myself and the stitches will get torn open." Rose stood there, hands on her hips.

It was true she would be foolish enough to try and dress herself but he shuddered to think what would happen if Helen found out. Nikola studied her appearance, hair slightly disheveled and the hospital gown drowned out her natural color with the sheer paleness of its fabric. He raised his hands in defeat and heaved a heavy sigh.

"Alright, I'll do it just tell me what clothes you want." Nikola walked over to the dresser, regaining his former composure.

Rose watched as he moved between the dresser and closet to find a sensible outfit for her, being careful not to handle any one particular piece for too long before it was tossed onto the bed. She frowned slightly as he tossed the different pieces of clothing, noticing that undergarments were not among any of them. A sigh came from her and she walked over to the dresser, grabbing a pair of underwear from one of the drawers and walking into the closet. It took some time but she managed to put them on without hurting herself too much. When she came back out of the closet Nikola had a frown on his face.

"Don't look at me like that. It would be in bad taste if you put my underwear on for me. And " She wrinkled her nose a little, and moved over the bed to see his clothing choices for her.

Lying on the bed was one of her favorite outfits. The top was see through with a silk belt to tie at the waist, and running up the front to the dip of the V-neck were several buttons. Small frills decorated the cup of the sleeve and the entire shirt was composed of sheer black flowers. She should have known he would pick this shirt; it always reminded him of the fashions from when he was much younger. However, he did try to make her life a little easier by picking out a pair of jeans and a black tank top to go under it.

Nikola picked up the jeans and moved to the front of her, kneeling down slightly. He held them open for her and she stepped in them, placing a hand on his shoulder to steady herself. The pants were pulled up to her thighs when Nikola rose up and pulled them the rest of the way up. He modestly looked away when the hospital gown hard started to rise up, so he had instead watched her facial expression.

"Was it as good for you?" A deep resounding chuckle sounded in the room, followed by a loud thump of Rosella hitting his shoulder.

"Don't be an ass just untie this gown and you can leave." She turned around, rolling her eyes at how bad his joke was.

Nikola untied the gown, watching as she caught it so it wouldn't fall off of her body. Her head turned as she waited on him to leave the room. He nodded his head and walked over to the door, as he reached for the handle he saw it move out of his grasp. Helen had pulled the door back and her eyes widened at what she saw.

"Nikola, what in the bloody hell is going on here?" Her eyes turned to a horrified Rose.

Rose began stammering to find an excuse and Nikola looked from her to Helen, the smirk falling off his face.

"Helen it's not what you think. Rose wanted out of the infirmary and I obliged her." He took a step away from the door, watching as Helen ushered Rose behind the closet door.

There was a furious blush on Rose's cheeks by the time she had finished getting dressed. She went and sat on the bed with Nikola standing next to her, Helen stood in front of them with her hands on her hips, looking like a mother who just caught two teenagers.

"Alright, I know nothing probably happened but we have a problem. You may be adults but for God's sake Nikola, she's like a daughter to me. Why would you help her get dressed?"

Nikola seemed a little uncomfortable with the whole situation, but he stood up from the bed and made a motion with his hands to Rose.

"I was given an ultimatum. Surely you can understand not wanting her stitches to re-open. It does help to have a medical touch with these kinds of things." Nikola smirked and began to walk out of the room.

Helen scowled after him but let her look soften as she watched Rose shifting on the bed. She went and sat next to her on the bed, putting her arm around Rose's shoulders.

"You're an adult; I don't think I have to tell you why I don't like this… Nikola would use you as an end to his means. It's perfectly natural for a young woman to be attracted to an older man." She mused, watching as Rose dropped her gaze slightly.

"I understand Aunt Helen, but you must know that I just wanted help with getting dressed. I may like him and enjoy his company but that's not what this was about." She looked at Helen now, a soft glow in her eyes.

"I believe you. Just be careful with a person like him, I don't want you to get hurt. Now, we're going to the entrance of Hollow Earth in a few hours. Since you've been shot you can't go with us. John and Nikola will be staying behind with Adam, and I would like for you to keep an eye on them." Helen stood, helping Rose stand up in the process.

"Of course Aunt Helen, I'll hold down the fort for you." Rose smiled brightly, escorting Helen out of the room.

Before Helen left she gave Rose a kiss on the cheek. She watched Helen leave before she shut the door to her room again, a look of relief flooding her face. Rose picked up her room, placing her dirty clothes in one pile before she made her way over to her desk. She opened the drawer that she kept the source blood in only to find it missing. Her heart began to race as she cursed Nikola, making her way out of the room and down to his lab.

"Nikola, what the hell did you do?" She put a hand on her hip and watched as he stood from his place by the work area.

"My dear Rosie, what do you mean?" He put his hands in his pants pockets, glancing at her face for a moment.

"You took the source blood out of my room."

Nikola chuckled, pulling the vial out of his pocket. He held it in front of her, before placing it on the table beside him.

"Yes, I did take it. But, I have to tell you why I did. You understand better than most people here why I need it. Being different was all I knew, while the rest of the world crumbled with age I remained ageless. Without it I'm just another person waiting on death." He walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Is being human really that bad for you Nikola?" She had a pained look in her eyes, as much as he hated to see it the truth needed to be told.

"Yes. I had plans as a vampire, I wanted to take over the world and make it the way it should have been. My people should have been ruling this miserable place." He grew frustrated and sighed heavily.

"You would give up all of this just to try and resurrect your people? Nikola there is a reason people die and there is a reason that the vampires only exist in diluted forms. Yeah you can become a vampire again, but I won't stand by and watch if you still wish to take over the world." She brought a hand up to his face, gently stroking his cheek.

His eyes clouded over for a moment, deciding once and for all what he wanted. There was a spark of realization and he leaned forward, pressing his lips roughly against hers. Rose made a surprised noise against his lips, but leaned into his body. Nikola wrapped his arms around Rose's smaller frame, one hand traveling up to the back of her head. Her eyes closed and she felt herself returning the kiss with just as much force.

* * *

_Author's Note: Wow, I wanted this published on my birthday and I just barely made it. This is my gift for you guys! Thanks for reading, I will be sure to make the next chapter better. Don't forget to review, or even drop me a line. 3  
_


	6. Finvarra

Rose pushed against his chest with a hand, pulling back to take a few deep breaths. She looked up into his eyes, her own half closed and glazed over with pleasure.

"That didn't exactly answer my question Nikola…" Her body was leaned against the table now, watching Nikola carefully.

"I will be a vampire again. There is no doubting that, I've always had vampire blood in me. As for taking over the world… I have lifetimes to do that." Nikola picked up the vial, examining it closely.

"If I live long enough to see you attempt it, I'll be sure to try and stop you…" She scowled and walked out of the lab, leaving Nikola alone to his thoughts.

Rose felt a few tears trail down her cheeks but she furiously wiped them away. She couldn't believe that Nikola would still go through with his plans, but then again that was the kind of person he was. It still provided no comfort for the pain in her chest. Rose wandered the halls of Sanctuary, eventually taking herself to the library close to her room. She locked the doors behind her, wanting a little privacy for once in her life.

Her hands went right to book that had information on chlorokinetics. Of course they had gone over the history of people like her, but coming from Nikola it had all seemed so shadowed and unimportant to everything else. Her studies had come first and after that, controlling her powers. In truth, the only thing she knew about chlorokinetics was that they had a deep rooted connection to the earth.

She turned to the right pages, her mind absorbing every bit of information that she didn't already know. Her head titled as she turned to a particular interesting page on certain chlorokinetics being able to use pheromones. A frown graced her features and she went over to the intercom system, pressing a button for Henry's room.

"Henry, could you bring up a laptop? I need it for research."

"Sure thing Rose, I'll be up in a sec." He smiled and clicked off the intercom.

She waited around for a moment, and when Henry finally brought up the laptop she thanked him and went right to work. Scouring the internet she found numerous myths involving people and plants. Most of these examples, she found, involved people coming from plants or being turned into them near death. The same was true of the chlorokinetics, according to the book. The most powerful among them had released pheromones, attracting other chlorokinetics to further their powers.

She wrinkled her nose, the idea of luring an unsuspecting person to her just for procreation was wrong, even if she did believe in selective breeding. A small sigh came from her and she read further down, noting that the pheromones could also be used to repel unwanted pests. She typed up everything she learned on the laptop and saved it, carrying the laptop into her bedroom.

With that put away she glanced at her watch and noted how it was getting later in the day. Rose made her way upstairs to see Helen and the others off. Everyone gathered around, with the exception of Nikola, who hung towards the back of the group.

"Nikola will monitor us from up here, and we'll let you know if we run into any problems down there." Helen looked over Rose, giving the girl a big hug before grabbing onto John.

In short time Rose was left alone with Nikola and John. They all exchanged a look and rushed over to the computer. Helen had made it to the entrance but the door was frozen shut. Rose suggested that they use a lighter or some other manner of fire to get rid of the ice. It worked and the gang went deeper into the caves. Nikola's cloaking device began to short circuit and they no longer had connection with them.

"What happened?" John said, watching the screen in front of Nikola.

"The farther they go down the more interference we will run into." Nikola glanced up at John, watching as he headed towards Adam's room.

Nikola followed him while Rose stayed behind just in case they did come back into contact with Helen and the others, when they returned Adam came with them and was dressed in semi-decent clothes. She eyed him warily, having heard from Helen that he was deranged. He smiled to her while Nikola pulled up a map of Hollow Earth. Rose walked over, seeing an extensive network of tunnels.

"So basically we're going to go down in one and make our way towards the city?" Rose asked, stepping over to Nikola's side.

John turned to both of them then, a slight smile on his face. He gave Rose a pat on the shoulder, which she shrugged off.

"Oh Rose. **We **are not going anywhere. Adam and I are going to go down there and helping out Helen, you two are going to stay up here and keep trying to get in contact with Helen and the others." John said, watching the look of horror on Nikola's face.

"There is no way I'm missing this!" Nikola said, pointing an accusatory finger at John.

"Do you really want to come?" Adam moved by John, placing a hand on his arm.

Nikola nodded and reached a hand out, but before he could touch John the two of them had disappeared.

"Son of a bitch!" Nikola yelled, his anger getting the better of him as he vamped out.

Rose moved up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder, barely wincing as Nikola turned around and grabbed her arms. He was careful not to pierce her skin with his nails but it was clear he was pissed. After a moment he calmed down, and his nails retracted back,

"Sorry Rosie…I was just a little upset about being left out, as usual." He sighed and hugged her tightly to his body.

She winced slightly, feeling a pain as her stomach connected with his body. He pulled back, muttering a quick apology.

"We're stuck here, aren't we?" Rose lowered her head a little, very frustrated at the idea of being stuck in the house and still injured.

"We might….but I have an idea if you would indulge me? The blood in the vial I took, there was enough for me and, there was enough to have one more person become like Helen and myself…" Nikola trailed off, lowering his eyes to Rose.

There was a click of realization in Rose's head and she stared up dumbfounded at Nikola.

"Nikola… You can't possibly mean to give me the source blood? There would be no way of turning me back… And there is no reasoning behind changing me." She pulled out of his arms, crossing them over her chest as she thought.

"Rosie, do you remember the summer you wanted to come back but we wouldn't let you? That was the summer I was running a clinic of sorts… and became human, because of the De-Vamper I constructed. All I have to do is reconstruct it and we'll turn you back. And if my theory is correct it could very well enhance your powers and heal up your gunshot wound." He kissed her on the cheek, gently holding her right hand.

The possibilities ran through in her head. If she didn't take the source blood she would still be greatly weakened and would be totally useless to Nikola in the event of trouble. However, if she did take the source blood and the others found out…it would not end well for either of them.

"Alright... Let's do it." She felt her stomach begin to turn as nervousness built up in her, but she couldn't back down now.

Nikola held onto her hand and led her down to his lab. He began laying out a syringe, the blood and a tourniquet while Rose took a seat close to him on the table top with her arm outstretched. Her sleeve was rolled up and Nikola pressed two fingers against her skin to find a vein. Once he found a strong one he tied off the tourniquet on her arm and filled the syringe with the source blood serum. He looked up into her eyes as he pushed the syringe in her arm, pressing down on the plunger until it was empty.

Rose gripped the arms of the chair, closing her eyes tightly as she felt liquid fire course through her veins. When she opened her eyes again everything seemed different, her head was swimming but Nikola was there to help her. She buried her head in Nikola's shoulder, concentrating on a hum she was hearing in her head. The hum eventually developed into a voice.

"_Stay yourself. Give it time." _The voice whispered across her mind, and steadily she gained her footing.

She began to look around the room and noticed a potted tiger lily in the corner of the room. Her eyes widened, frantically she looked to Nikola. He had an arm wrapped around her waist, holding her up a little.

"You've got to be bloody kidding me." She motioned to the plant in the corner and Nikola followed her hand.

"_I can most assure you I am not kidding you, now sit down before you fall over."_ The voice she now deciphered clearly.

It was strong but also had a soothing quality like an old grandmother, Rose had thought. She walked over to the rose, bringing her face down close to it.

"Are you talking to me?" She said, her hands moving up to rub her now throbbing head.

"_I wouldn't be talking to anyone else, dear. That vampire over there has an over inflated ego, and he can't possibly hear me._" The rose said to her, and Rosella took a step back.

She immediately put up a mental shield and turned around to glare at Nikola. A sigh came from her and she rubbed her temple softly.

"Well… The plants are talking to me. I mean more than they were. Nikola it's a little scary…" He reached out to her, putting his arm around her shoulders and giving her a light squeeze.

"I know Rosie, but you'll get the hang of it. So, shall we try getting into hollow earth?" He released her and together they made their way into the main entrance of the Sanctuary.

"Obviously we'll have to go through one of the other tunnels, since the way Helen went has traps for those with source blood." Nikola mused, pulling out a smaller digital map of the hollow earth.

"So, where are we off to, to find this tunnel?" She pulled on a black jacket and she went to pull her hair back into a ponytail only to notice it had reverted back to its original red color.

She growled slightly and pulled it back, running around to find a hat to hide it under.

"You should leave it; it is quite a lovely red. But for this tunnel we will be going to Cnoc Meadha. It's in Ireland, close to Castle Hackett" Nikola said, wrinkling his brow at the name.

Rose nodded, picturing a map of the United Kingdom in her head. It would take them at minimum one day to get there if they went without sleep, but the trip would be well worth it if it got them to Hollow Earth. She pulled on a black beret, tucking most of her hair under it. Her hand touched her pockets and she felt her credit card in its own separate pocket.

"Alright, so we first have to head to London?" Rose took out her cellphone, dialing the numbers for the London train station.

Nikola nodded his head and led her outside into a car Helen left for them. Rose moved into the driver's seat, booking two tickets on a train leaving in one hour for Manchester, first class of course. She threw her phone in the backseat when she was done and turned the key in the ignition, driving in the direction of London.

"Don't you find it a bit curious that the closest tunnel is in Ireland of all places?" She said, glancing over at Nikola.

Nikola simply shrugged and leaned in his seat to look out the window, not finding anything particularly odd about it. The rest of the trip was very quiet, with Rose sometimes making comments about the scenery. When they finally arrived at the train station it was full of people. Rose bought the tickets and walked back over to Nikola, standing off to the side of the ticket booths.

"So?" Nikola said, placing an arm around Rose's shoulders.

"Eurostar, we depart shortly. We have our own private cabin and I get to sleep for 2 hours." She smiled and led Nikola over to their train.

It wasn't terribly big, but would serve its purpose. They were ushered into their cabin; it had a long cushioned seat on each side with overhead compartments. If they wanted one of the seats could pull out and act as a bed.

"Alright I'm going to lay down for a little bit. You're more than welcome to join me." Nikola helped her pull the seat out, and then took off his suit jacket and hung it up on a hanger.

She unbuttoned her jacket and lay down on the soft seat, her body stretching out. Nikola grabbed a white blanket from the overhead compartment and joined her on the bed, covering up both of them. Rose scooted to one side of the bed while he lay in the middle, intentionally taking up a bit of space. Her eyes closed and her breathing began to even out as she napped. He was awake the entire ride, enjoying the warmth radiating from the young female laying close to him. There had been a change in her after she had been turned. It wasn't that noticeable but with her so close it was impossible for him to ignore.

She was at peace and the smell of chamomile radiated from her body, just in a small amount as though she were wearing a type of lotion. It had been confusing but he assumed her powers had enhanced to the point that she would begin to take on a few plant-like qualities. He did find it very soothing and found himself leaning over her body to kiss her cheek softly. She smiled in her sleep and didn't resist when he felt the need to drape an arm across her waist. After a few hours he felt the train pull into a stop. Nikola gently shook her awake, watching as she yawned and got up from the seat.

Several hours later they were standing just to the side of Knockmaa, with the sun already beginning to set. It was a rather impressive hill but it would take time to explore it thoroughly for any manner of opening. Rose began to walk around one side of the hill while Nikola mirrored her on the opposite side. Her eyes watched for any change in the shape of the hill but found none. There was a soft grumble from her and she stood still a moment, crossing her arms in front of her chest. It was only a moment later that her attentions were drawn away by a little rabbit rubbing its chin against her ankle. A brief wind passed around the hill and Rose moved down on her knees to properly examine the little creature. It was a small black furred bunny, having a very interesting eye color of light yellow. She reached a hand out, allowing the bunny to sniff her before she patted its head and rubbed its ears.

"Are you lost little fellow?" She carefully picked it up in her arms and walked around the hill to find Nikola cursing about not being able to find the entrance.

His eyes watched her as she approached, to be more specific they watched the little bundle she had in her arms.

"What is that?" He said, nearly disgusted until she sat the little creature on the ground beside her.

"He rubbed up against me. I didn't want to just walk away from him, besides he looks rather cute." She watched as the rabbit began to make its way up the hill, the two of them following closely behind.

She could almost hear the scowl on Nikola's face, but it was no matter he would get over it eventually. The rabbit led them all the way to the top of the hill and took a rest once it came to a small wooden door lying on the ground next to an Oak tree. On top of the hill appeared to be a round object, similar to a doorknob. The two of them made their way up the hill, seeing that the doorknob stayed in its same position. Rose reached a hand out and pulled the doorknob, rising up a door made from the earth itself.

Nikola and Rose exchanged looks before looking down the tunnel that had formed. The rabbit went in first, followed by a nervous Rosie. It took Nikola only half a second to grip Rose's arm and bring her close by him. He surprised at how lit the tunnel stayed even as they got farther away from the entrance, the walls seeming to contain veins of eerie glowing gold and silver. Finally the two came upon a larger end of the tunnel that rose into two large doors with amber and silver colored trimmings.

"Nikola…I don't think we should be here…" Rose trailed off, feeling a deep pain of recognition in her soul.

Nikola moved away from her, gently pushing against the large doors with one of his hands. The little black rabbit sat right against Rose's foot, its head tilted to look at his futile efforts. She took a step forward, ignoring the cold fear rising up her spine. Another step and her legs were beginning to turn to jelly. A few more and she could almost reach out and touch the door. When her hand finally connected with the ancient wood, it began to crumble away revealing a grand throne room. The rabbit bounded ahead of the two of them, jumping up to disappear in a ball of shadows. Before the ball hit the ground it unfurled into the shape of a small black faerie, with bright golden wings that were nearly as big as its body. In truth he still reminded Rose of a rabbit.

Nikola shot her a horrified look, wondering how any of this was actually happening before him. Two sets of eyes were watching them from the top off a raised dais. There was a long red, velvet carpet laid out before them. The room itself seemed to be carved from beautiful black and white marble that contained veins of bright light. The dais was made from Obsidian, Rose could tell that much even from this distance. It was large and a shiny black that made her think of latex. Some of the edges were a bit rough, but no doubt sharp enough to cut. They both watched as the once-rabbit floated up gracefully to the top of a dais where a man was seated on the tallest throne and a young girl was seated beside him.

"Approach." Came a booming voice from the dais.

Nikola looked over at Rose, her heart was beating fast and she could feel a cold sweat on her body. He gripped her hand and walked forward into the room. The grand doors closed behind them, allowing a gentle whoosh of air to brush past them. Rose held Nikola's hand tightly up until the moment they stood before two grand thrones. The young girl was near identical to Rose. Her hair was a rich shade of auburn, curled slightly to frame her rounded face. The eyes that looked up at Rose had an outer color of green that bled into the inner circle of blue, and her skin was a slightly darker tan than Rose's. Rose stared down at this young girl; she couldn't have been more than fourteen. Her eyes shifted to the man on the other throne.

The small black faerie rested on the man's shoulder. He was dressed in finery of black, red and gold. He wore a black doublet with a high, white frilled collar. Decorating his legs were dark red breeches, with minor gold designs that seemed to shine. A cape was tied around his body, made of simple black material with brown wolf fur decorating the shoulders. His eyes were two different colors. One having a bright blue hue, with small golden flecks. The other was a deep, earthy green very similar to Rose's own eye color. Rose and Nikola exchanged glances, as they waited for someone to say anything.

"Why have you come here?" The man said, leaning forward slightly to seem more interested.

Nikola let go of her hand and took a step forward, bowing slightly to the man.

"We were looking for a tunnel. My…companion found that thing while we were wandering around the hill. It led us down the proverbial rabbit hole. Now if you don't mind would you tell us what is going on here?" Nikola crossed his arms in front of him and relaxed at the feel of Rose moving close to him.

The man on the throne eyed him with some interest before casting his gaze on Rosella. He stood from his throne and motioned for the child by his side to leave. She gladly bounded off, leaving the adults alone. The little faerie whispered in his ear, before the man finally nodded and spoke.

"This is what the mortals aboveground have called a P_ú_ca over the years. It has the ability to change into a little fey, rabbit or horse. As for what is going on here… You have stumbled into my kingdom. I am Finvarra, High King of the Daoine Sidhe, and King of the Dead. I think I can better explain how you got here. You see, my daughter lived in the mortal world and stayed with her mother until she was about ten years old. She displayed certain powers…that her step-father could not understand. Only I and those like her mother could understand these powers. She was a faerie." He stared into Rose's eyes, boring into her very soul.

Nikola felt one of Rose's hands grip the sleeve of his suit jacket as the wheels in her head began to turn. He placed his hand over hers, feeling warmth spread throughout his body as their skin connected.

"My dear, you are my daughter." The words were spoken so softly, that Rose barely realized they had been said at all.

She felt faint; the only thing holding her up was Nikola's arm that had snaked its way around her waist. He looked at her, eyes full of concern as she somehow managed to find her footing again.

"That's not possible. My mother would have told me if I was… She wouldn't have allowed my father to send me away." She felt the tears sting her eyes and a hand reach up to brush them away.

Nikola fought the urge to hold her in his arms, instead deciding to direct his attention to the man claiming to be her father. He had so much that he wanted to say to this Finvarra, some father he was. A frown was upon Finvarra's face, marring the otherwise regal features of the old Faerie. For some reason if Nikola was touching Rose, Finvarra seemed to have some deep seated anger hidden away.

"I promise, I will tell you everything." Finvarra said, placing a hand on Rosella's shoulder.

She seemed to flinch from his touch, leaning more into Nikola. Though he couldn't blame her from wanting to be away from him, he did feel awful watching her cower into the arms of that abomination.

"Don't touch her." Nikola said, turning so that Rose could rest her head on his arm.

"She is my daughter. I don't know what she is too you, but I intend to be the father that I should have been. She should stay here to learn of her history. You will stand aside." Finvarra said, glaring down at Nikola.

Rose silenced her sniffles and looked up at Finvarra. In the back of her mind, she knew this was her father. Even without looking human he still looked like her, the same soft facial features that made him look younger than he was. His nose gently sloped, seemingly out of place amongst the strong lines that shaped his face. The nose on her face was his, as was the color of one of his eyes.

"We cannot stay here. We have our friends that we have to look for." Rose said, sounding more monotone than she intended.

Finvarra stared into the now puffy, bloodshot eyes of his child and nodded only knowing of one solution.

"I will send people to look for your friends and help them should they need it." He waved his hand and standing below them on the dais were creatures in all black clothes, the only thing that could be made out from them was their black goggles.

"Tell them what your friends look like and we will have them back in no time." Finvarra said, watching his daughter step down to speak with the oddities.

Nikola nearly rolled his eyes; the thought of such obviously inferior beings looking for Helen and the others was absurd. If they could leave Rose would be able to help him find the tunnel in little time. When the creatures finally left, Nikola saw the golden light in the hall shift to dull silver. Finvarra stepped down from the dais, beating Nikola to Rose by a few seconds.

"My servants will find rooms for the both of you. You should rest, when it is time for our nightly meal someone will bring you the appropriate attire and I shall tell you of your mother and I." Finvarra said as he began walking away from them.

All at once the empty hall suddenly began to fill up with…people. Or at least some of them seemed to be people. The pair was approached by a small creature that barely came up to Rosella's thigh. It had grey skin and its hair would have fallen to the floor if it wasn't tied up. Upon closer inspection the creature revealed itself to be a male. Warts and bumps covered the little creatures body, one in particular sat on the

"Come on then missus. The lord will be expecting you two to be ready by the time dinner is ready to be served." The little, goblin Rose assumed, gently pulled at Rosella's hand.

Rose in turn quickly grabbed Nikola's hand, shooting him a look as they were led down winding hallways to prepare for the evening meal.

* * *

_Okay this was sitting around on my computer after weeks of me editing and debating with myself whether or not it was publishable. I have it in a place where I like it, but...I might want to edit later down the road. I am sorry for the wait and I promise Nikola will be less of a sexy decoration in the next chapter._

_I love everyone that reviews my stories. I do appreciate any criticism or things that you think I could do differently.  
_


	7. Inhumane

It was sometime later while the faeries were helping to properly bathe Rose that she began to wonder how Nikola was doing. True, it hadn't been long since she had seen him but she wasn't sure how he would react especially if they insisted on bathing him as they did with her. She sat nude in the large ceramic basin, one of the more human looking faeries sat on a small stool behind her to brush out her long red hair. It was an unpleasant experience, but as time went on she realized that the faeries were not as modest as the humans that had brought her up.

In fact, they didn't seem fazed at all by the young woman in the basin. They scrubbed her arms and legs; one at a time until she was certain there would be red marks. She scowled at the little creatures, pulling her appendages away from them and back into the water. One shook its head at her then proceeded to usher almost everyone out of the room. The faerie at her back had finally finished brushing out her hair and walked over to set it on the dresser. Rose took a moment and looked at the room. The floors were made from a patchwork of grey and black stones, all of which became rather cold without skin contact.

The bed was set up with four long white posts that had branches, stretching up to touch the ceiling. Tied across the posts were gossamer curtains that hung down to the edge of the bed. The other woman in the room watched as Rose took in her surroundings, a small laugh escaping her lips. The fae picked up a towel, spreading it out in her arms as she walked over to Rose. Rose stood up, her arm covering her breasts. The towel was wrapped around her and she quickly secured it, stepping out of the tub and onto the cold stones.

"I'll let you dry off for a moment and then I will help you get dressed miss." The fae said, turning around and walking to the armoire in the corner of the room.

Rose used the towel to pat her body dry, taking a moment to think of anything to say to her. It was awfully uncomfortable having someone see you naked and you don't even know their name.

"So… How long have you stayed here…?" Rose allowed the sentence to draw out, hoping the woman would give her name.

"My name is Myrsina miss. I've been at Knockmaa since the early 1400's. I grew tired of our homeland." She smiled, pulling her curly brown hair back into a messy ponytail with a small strip of animal hide.

Rose saw a glint of metal and realized that Myrsina was wearing an exquisite ring. It was a gold band, accentuated with only one solitary ruby. The design was simple enough, but it seemed to suit Myrsina well.

"The 1400's, just how old are you Myrsina?" Rose asked, walking over to sit on the edge of the bed.

She thought she heard Myrsina laugh and wondered what was funny. Myrsina placed a long white gown on the bed next to Rose then made a motion for her to stand up. The dress was made of sheer materials, it made Rosella wonder it would show what was underneath. Myrsina allowed Rosella a moment to put on her undergarments before putting the dress on her. It was tight fitting in the chest, making up for her lack of a bra. There were clasps on the top of her shoulders that held the dress on her body, and a small band of brown leather ran below her chest. The dress itself was made of a dark green silk and was decorated with golden detail along the hem. Myrsina picked out a necklace from a secret drawer in the armoire and placed it around Rose's neck.

"I'm much older than I look. Being around other faeries makes the time go by much quicker, but let's just say when I was born the world was not as big as it is now."

Rose looked in the mirror at herself once Myrsina had finished fussing over her. Her hair had been made a little less wavy from all of the brushing, but would be much softer if it was touched. The dress was a little old fashioned, looking more like a green toga but with less pleating in the skirt and more form fitting. The neckline dipped down in a square shape, showing off a little bit of cleavage. Still, it was very much a style that Rosella liked. The necklace she wore was a small metal coin with an owl and olive branch stamped on it.

"I take it that…Fin was Roman?" Rosella mused, watching as Myrsina moved behind her to fix her hair.

There was a small laugh from Myrsina as she shook her head. Long, spidery fingers pulled the hair and wrapped it into a tight bun at the base of her neck that was secured by a few simple pins.

"No dear. We don't have nationalities as the humans see it. Since some of us were not actually born as you were, we identify the most with the area that has some significance to us. Your father was born during the Roman time; he spent a lot of time there. Though, it was quite unavoidable with as big as the Empire got. Many of us thought he wouldn't return to his own kingdom. But, the infatuation passed after his brother helped bring him back." Myrsina allowed her smile to falter slightly, but kept a cool composure and stepped back from Rose.

Rose nodded her head and gave a small twirl in front of the mirror on the vanity. Myrsina gave a nod of approval and waved her hand, making the water that had been in the tub disappear.

"I do believe your gentleman friend will want to see you before you both leave for dinner. I will allow him in here but I must warn you, he has been most incorrigible with the servants assigned to help him. And you should know that your father would not want any…funny business going on under his nose." Myrsina was giving Rose a bit of 'gentle' advice, but she couldn't help to think that Myrsina was acting too much like a mother figure.

Rose felt a blush come to her cheeks, the audacity Myrsina had! Of course there would be no funny business, they were in a strange place and she was only just warming up to Nikola as more than a friend.

"Well I'm sure he'll be fine once he's around a friend. And I can assure you that we will do nothing that you are thinking of." Rose waved her hand dismissively and moved to it on the bed.

Myrsina nodded her head and left Rosella alone in the room. A few moments later there was a knock on the door, followed by an unhappy Nikola coming into the room. He stopped for a moment, eyeing Rose in her formalwear.

"Well nice to see you're getting along well." He walked over to her and took her hand in his, placing a small kiss on the back of it.

"And I see you didn't let them pick out your clothes." She smiled and stood from the bed, noticing that Nikola had change into a bit of a more modern suit.

Nikola grinned at her and brought an arm around her waist, allowing himself close enough to kiss her on the cheek.

"My dear Rosie, I am terribly sorry. I never did ask you how all of this is making you feel. Are you doing alright, since finding out the truth about yourself?" He rubbed her back lightly through the material of the dress, hoping to provide some small comfort to her.

Rose sighed and shrugged her shoulders, leaning against Nikola's body as she stood next to him.

"How do you think I am? I just don't know how to take all of this… Since I came to Sanctuary everything leading up to a few hours ago was all to prove something. I was trying to prove that I could be just as good as who I was descended from. Not only did I find out that my father wasn't my father, but that the two people who were supposed to love me and care for me didn't try to even find me. And they're both blood fairies! Nikola, this is all so new to me. If I'm a faerie what does that mean for me?" A few tears fell from her cheeks and she wiped at them gently, hoping not to leave red marks.

Nikola frowned and wrapped his arms around Rose, letting her head rest on his shoulder. She sniffled softly into Nikola's shoulder, moving her arms around his torso. He hated to see her upset but he eventually did release her, taking her chin in his hand to plant a chaste kiss on her lips.

"It means nothing Rosie. You are still a brilliant woman, with many friends who would give up their lives to help you. Helen cared for you like her own daughter, and the both of us helped to raise you and make you into a fine woman. You are also a respected scientist among the genetic community, and you have done a lot of good work." Nikola spoke sternly to her, but his eyes were warm.

Rose felt a smile come across her face and she returned the kiss, with a high level of excitement. Nikola grinned against her lips and reluctantly pulled himself away as he realized there was somewhere they had to be. She frowned slightly but understood why they could only kiss for right now.

"Well my dear, you look stunning. The dress could have a higher neckline, but I suppose you've worn more revealing dresses." He mused, holding out his arm for her.

She held up one finger and looked around the room for a pair of shoes to wear with the dress. Opening the armoire, she spotted a few different pairs of shoes lying on the bottom. Rose pulled out a pair of strapped black pumps and quickly tied them on her feet, the added height from the shoes allowed the top of her head to just reach Nikola's cheek.

With everything in place she linked her arm with Nikola's and they stepped out of the room to see Myrsina waiting with her arms crossed. Myrsina apparently had time to change out of her simple white dress and into a knee length, black A-line dress with a plunging neckline. She saw the two with their arms linked and made a face, but otherwise said nothing.

"Come, everyone is beginning to arrive in the grand hall. I will lead the way." She turned on her heel and walked down the hallway.

Some of the fae were following behind them; each dressed in wonderful colors and fabrics some of which could only exist with a little magic. They approached the doors of the grand hall; they were bigger than any normal human could fit through. Rose found herself silently hoping that nothing tonight would test the boundaries of the door. The grand hall had numerous circular tables, decorated with white and gold tablecloths. It was also notable that there were some irregular shaped pools, a few with inhabitants in them. These ladies and gentlemen were nude from the waist up, most of the women having long enough hair to cover their naked flesh. Some had pale green skin making them look sickly, others ranged from a deep blue to a light tanned brown. One thing they had in common was that just below their bellybuttons were scales, which ranged in color but had a uniformed shape. There was one woman who eyed Nikola as they passed by. She had straight black hair that was tied in a bun, wrapped around her breasts was dark green seaweed that she had tied in the middle. Instead of waving with her hand a reddish-brown tentacle with suction cups rose out of the water and made a small motion at them. Rose put her other hand over her mouth to stifle her gasp.

"Anything wrong Rosella?" Myrsina asked, casting a mean glance back at the woman in the pool.

"What was that?" Rose whispered, her eyes shifting to look at her again.

"Oh, that was just Cecilia. She is a Cecaelia. They are like mermaids but instead of their lower halves looking like fish, they look like octopuses."

* * *

Nikola felt her looking at him; he looked into the pool and raised an eyebrow at the seemingly beautiful woman. The tentacle elicited a small chuckle from him, even as he felt Rose's arm gently squeeze him he couldn't help but wonder about the creature in the pool.

As they approached a long table in front of them all, Finvarra rose from his seat along with the little girl they hadn't been introduced to. Nikola nodded his head slightly to Finvarra, seeing the look on his face Rose unhooked herself from Nikola and bowed. Nikola looked her over, watching as her body seemed to strain with the decision. He watched the muscles begin to relax as she rose back up, her eyes now fixated to the young girl next to Finvarra.

"My dear, I am so pleased to see you in that dress. But, now I think there is someone you should meet. This young lady at my side is Tania. My only other child. And your half-sister." He spoke, motioning to Tania who in turned bowed to her older sister.

Rose pursed her lips, moving closer to Nikola for the comfort of some kind of contact. He obliged her, slipping her hand in his and rubbing the back of it with his thumb. Fin glared daggers into Nikola but was rewarded with only a smirk. Finvarra motioned them to sit and they did with Rose taking the seat directly across from Fin; Nikola sat beside her. The table was decorated with white porcelain plates and what appeared to be golden goblets.

"The meal is about to be served. Would either of you like wine or perhaps mead?" Fin asked, leaning back into his chair, lazily.

"I'll have wine. And I'm sure Rosie will want water or the non-alcoholic equivalent." Nikola said, laughing slightly to himself.

"Actually, I'll have anything that's remotely alcoholic." Rose shot Nikola a look, then turned her attention to the suddenly fascinating empty glass.

A young girl in an orange dress with golden skin came over with a sizeable pitcher and poured red wine in both of their glasses. Rose took her time in downing the glass, but still managed to force it down her throat in spite of the protests in her stomach.

"Rosella, there is so much I have to tell you. I don't know where to begin." Fin ran his thumb over a wedding band on his hand absentmindedly.

"Well, let's start with my mother. I remember very little about her." The glass she held swirled slightly before it was brought to her lips.

Nikola watched her face intently, the slight blush upon her cheeks said she hadn't had alcohol before. He knew this but didn't find the idea of her getting drunk around people they didn't know upsetting.

"Yes. Well, it was back in the year before your Christian Jesus. I was spending time with a distant relative on the island of Crete. It was a celebration of his first born child. You see, we all live so long that children come far and few between. A child among the Daoine Sidhe is an especially tremendous occasion, as we tend to have the most problems with producing heirs. Your mother was…enchanting. I barely believed it when I found out she was a fae, though I should have known that a beauty like that couldn't be achieved by a mere mortal. We were connected through that distant relative and were nigh inseparable up until a few years before your birth. While we were visiting Berlin your mother met the man that you believed to father you. She fell in love with his fragility and left me here. I did hear that she was pregnant, but it was too close for me to tell if I was your father or not. So I did nothing." He sipped at his wine and watched as Nikola's hand disappeared under the table.

His hand was on Rose's thigh before Nikola knew it. He gave her a reassuring squeeze, which led to more evil looks from Finvarra. Nikola was getting terribly amused that the man didn't like him, the not so subtle facial expressions and the pure looks of hatred were becoming a great source of pleasure.

Her heart swelled in her chest at the small gesture, but did nothing to help the blush on her face. She closed her eyes from a moment, reaching up a hand to rub at the now pained part of her head.

"And you have another daughter? Was that just a coincidence or did you just need an heir?" Rose spoke quietly but her voice never faltered, even though in her heart she wanted to scream or throw something.

Darkness clouded over Fin's eyes, Tania watched her father closely and motioned for the food to be served. It would prove to be a small distraction while Finvarra thought of something to say to his oldest daughter.

I didn't think you were mine. Even after I had a chance to see you, I still couldn't be sure. Yes, you look the part of a faerie but that could have also been the influence of your mother's genes. As for Tania, yes I did need an heir, but that was second to my need for a queen. When Tania's mother did meet…her final end, I was determined to raise her up to follow in my footsteps." Fin said, drinking his entire goblet of wine.

"Then why keep me here? It's obvious that I am not a necessary part of your grand plan. So, what I am really doing here?" Rose let her hand fall under the table, squeezing Nikola's tightly.

"Yes… As to that, the youngest does not inherit the throne in our society. While I may not have been married to your mother she was still one of our people, and as a full blooded Sidhe you are more vied after than any other for the throne. Although you keep _questionable_ company that is excused. This brings me to an issue. What is your relationship to this vampire?" Fin turned his attention to Nikola.

Rose winced slightly, noticing that Nikola was in the early stages of vamping out. He loved his ancestors, so of course Fin would start by pushing those buttons first and Nikola played right into it. The nails against her hand were terribly sharp and would leave red marks against her skin if he wasn't careful. Rose's face twisted up with hate, so it was no surprise that alcohol began to fuel this fire. She down the last of her glass and motioned for more. There was a small buzzing in the room, coming from other conversations at the different tables but Rose blocked it out in her mind.

"When my parents kicked me out of the house I was taken to a wonderful place. I met the most amazing people there. And Nikola, the greatest man I have ever met raised me with a friend of his. They could have sent me away to some god forsaken orphanage, but no. My dearest friend Helen raised me just like I was her own daughter. Nikola taught me so much of the world that I became a scientist. Countless others that I met taught me more than either of my biological parents! Who are you to sit in judgment of him? Yes, he's done wrong but he is a better man than you will ever be! We aren't dating but I certainly care for him deeply. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be heading back to the room. I've lost my appetite." Rose said fiercely, pushing the chair out and standing up quickly.

Myrsina saw the motion from across the room and was on her feet and walking behind Rose to the room. Nikola glared daggers at Fin and also rose from his seat, picking up two full glasses of wine.

"Congratulations. There just went your only chance of ever connecting with your daughter." Nikola mused, and then went in the same direction Rosella had gone.

Tania stared at her father, a small frown forming on her face. Fin sighed heavily, placing a hand on his youngest daughter's shoulder.

"Don't worry father. How long can she stay mad at you?" Tania's voice sounded like soft tiny bells to her father.

Somewhere deep inside himself he knew that she was right. It would only be a matter of time before he had a chance to mend his relationship with Rosella.

* * *

Helen felt as though her head was about to split when she woke up. Her vision had become blurry but she could barely make out the shapes of the others around her. She snapped out of it first and saw as one by one everyone began to wake up. They all rose and began looking each other over, wondering if it had actually been a dream.

The room they were in was overwhelmingly dark and had a wonderful view of the city. Ranna walked in, dressed in all black as the same time they had last seen her. Henry was leaning on Kate, his leg still hurting slightly. Helen had her arms crossed and Will was busy looking around the room, wondering how they were still alive.

"I do hope you will forgive the shock. It was only meant to look like had died, we needed it to be realistic." Ranna said, moving to the desk in the middle of the room.

"So, why didn't you kill us?" Helen's head was now beginning to throb a little less as she confronted Ranna.

"It would be highly illogical of us to kill everyone that comes down here. Now honestly, you've met people who have been down here before and they were alive." Ranna said, placing her arms across her chest.

"So what happens now?"

* * *

Nikola walked into Rose's room, ignoring the look that Myrsina gave him. He placed the glasses of wine on the bedside table, seeing Rose lying face down on the bed and crying her eyes out hurt his old heart. He sat next to her, letting his hand run across her back in small circles. Rose raised her head up and looked at him, making a small hiccuping noise from the alcohol consumption and crying.

"Rosie, there is no need to be upset. Your father is an ass, but you should not shed your tears over his ignorance." Nikola said, wiping away the tears with his thumb.

Rose nodded, rolling over onto her back so she could look at Nikola better. Her stomach had knotted up so terribly when she confronted her 'father' but she was justified in what she said.

"I just think it's absolute idiocy that he would not like you just because you're a vampire." Rose sighed and leaned over, picking up one of the glasses of wine.

A frown made its way to Nikola's face as he watched her down the glass in quick time. He shook his head and grabbed her arm, pulling her close against his body. She gasped softly, closing her hand so that he wouldn't see the marks that were made. That quick movement made him curious and he took the wine glass, setting it back in the original place.

"Rosie, did I…hurt you?" He spoke in a hushed tone, not wanting Myrsina to hear and come in the room.

Even as she shook her head, Nikola had her hand open to look over the cuts his nails inflicted. There was cold pit in his stomach; he nearly kicked himself for being so foolish as to have her hand when he was vamping out. He pulled a handkerchief from his breast pocket, dabbing lightly at the cuts to get rid of any blood on her palm.

"Nikola, you don't have to…" She spoke softly, flinching as he hit a particularly tender wound.

He hushed her and placed the kerchief on the table when he was done. Small kisses were placed on her hand before he reluctantly let it fall back to her side. Rose smiled weakly at him, watching as he leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. The door flew open and Nikola groaned loudly at the intrusion.

"I understand that you two are otherwise involved in each other but it is almost bedtime and some of us would like to see their charge off to bed so we can get to bed." Myrsina ushered Nikola out of the room, shutting the door behind.

Rose laughed as she heard a string of Serbian curses come from the frustrated scientist. Myrsina motioned for Rose to come off the bed and she did. She allowed herself to be undressed and a nearly see through white nightgown be placed on her body instead. Myrsina took the necklace from Rose and placed it in a drawer of the armoire.

"Myrsina, why does Finvarra not like Nikola?" She sat back down on the bed, staring at the glass of wine Nikola had left on the table.

"His majesty was never too fond of the race, but when he was in Rome his brother arrived to give him tragic news. His mother had died. We do get fatal injuries like humans, especially the youngest among us. But his mother was powerful among us. It doesn't usually happen that they die suddenly. However, we were at war and our enemies used vampires against us. They kidnapped his mother and placed her in iron shackles; Iron of course is incredibly poisonous to us. Then they tortured her for days, until she was too weak to kill any of them. We never knew how they got into the hill, but when we finally got her body back at the end of the war your father became a much darker man. We were to not trust vampires at the least." Myrsina finished her story and brushed out Rose's hair for her.

Rose was quiet, only nodding her head at this new information she had received. It was a tragic story, but Nikola wasn't like that. He had numerous opportunities to be evil and he certainly proved he could be a dangerous man, but he had changed over the years. There was no way he could do something like that, right? She had wrapped herself in the thought, not wanting to believe Nikola would actually carry through with his plan. She barely noticed when Myrsina had left the room and Nikola snuck in, locking the door behind him. Nikola cleared his throat and Rose dragged herself from her thoughts.

She eyed Nikola; he was wearing boxers and a tight white undershirt. Nikola was a little thin, but he had some tone to his body, perhaps from too much down time living for all these years. She gasped and crossed her arms over her chest, sticking her tongue out slightly at Nikola.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" Rose asked, unconsciously crossing her legs as she watched him pick up the glass of wine next to the bed and drink it.

"Well a number of reasons actually. You're buzzed and I am going to watch over you, we are in a strange place where most of the population apparently hates vampires, and you had my wine." He smirked and took a seat next to her on the bed.

Rose laughed slightly but wasn't going to uncross her arms anytime soon while he was paying attention. Nikola looked into her eyes, bringing a hand up to stroke the side of her face. They leaned in close together and Nikola crushed his lips to hers, moving his other hand around to the small of her back. Her arms got uncomfortable in this position, so she wrapped them around his shoulders, kissing him back as she pleased. Nikola pushed his weight on her, sending both of them to the bed. Rose's legs moved and Nikola put his knee between them, using it to balance some of his weight off of her. He licked her bottom lip, exploring her mouth when she finally relented and let him in.

Her breath came heavy when he pulled away to nip and kiss her neck. He could barely contain himself, she smelled of roses and her pulse was beginning to dance wildly under his mouth. A small moan came from her, her eyes closing softly at the feel of his hands running up and down her sides. One of his hands made its way up her short nightgown, finally gripping at her left breast.

Her back arched as he played with her, teasing and pinching her nipple. Her cheeks were now a bright shade of pink, almost matching the shade of her lips. Nikola felt himself starting to vamp out, wanting nothing more than to bite into her neck but he found the strength to resist. He bunched up the nightgown, giving him more skin to touch. A trail of kisses went down between her breasts to her stomach.

"Oh, Nikola wait….I'm ticklish." She giggled softly as he barely touched her stomach with his fingertips and watched as her stomach muscles twitched.

Nikola moved back up to her breasts, one hand teasing while he gently nipped and licked the other. She gripped the covers of the bed, her toes curling from the pleasure he was giving her. His other hand made its way down to the band of her underwired, causing Rose's eyes to open.

"I'm not sleeping with you Nik…" Her voice came out in a husky whisper.

Nikola nodded his head but felt all his frustrations bundle up as he knew this would have to stop before it went too far. He reluctantly pulled away from her, giving her one last kiss on the lips for the night.

"You win. I understand, you have your morals. As inhumane as they may be." Nikola smirked, watching the movements of her body as she stood and straightened out her nightgown.

She rolled her eyes at him and stumbled slightly back into the bed, pulling the covers back so she could get under them better. Nikola lay in the bed as well, his arms wrapped protectively around Rose's waist and his face buried in the crook of her neck.

"It's bloody hot in here anyways and you want to make it hotter? Besides, I told you before that I don't believe in pre-marital sex." She smiled and placed her arms over his, laughing softly.

Nikola groaned and shifted around behind her, hiding the arousal he had felt while on top of her.

"I understand. Now no more talk of this, or I'll come to my senses and just whisk you away." He yawned against her neck and gave it a playful nip.

"Nikola...there's something I want to ask you. How do you deal with being as old as you are? If Finvarra is any indication of my life span, I just don't know what I'll do..." Her voice was a whisper, almost to low for him to hear.

"Rosie, it's always difficult being this old just ask Helen when we find her. We've lived to see the ideas of man fade into history. People we knew from back then are dead, even some of our friends Nigel Griffin and James Watson died... It is always difficult to live while others die. But that is the way of the world. It was easier for Helen and John, they had each other for so long and even had a child. I was only once scared of death, when we had to retrieve the source blood with our own talents. I had never been shocked like that before... So to put it simply, I deal with it because I had Helen, and 'friends' if you could call us that. And now, I'll be here for you." He spoke the last part in to her neck, closing his eyes and breathing in her sweet scent.

Rose nodded her head and cuddled against him, reaching a hand down to pull the covers up over them. Soon both were sleeping peacefully, knowing the other would be there in the morning.

* * *

_Well, what do you guys think? I thought I should include just a little snippet of what was happening with Helen and the gang, just so we all remember that they exist. I'm sure there are still some burning questions, like why Helen and the others are still alive, and what's going to happen if Finvarra finds out about the blossoming romance between Nikola and Rose. This was just a little taste of the lemon that will be happening in the later chapters. I'm still not sure how many there are going to be, but I promise you we are not even close to the end. Something exciting will be happening that will change Sanctuary forever. Remember to review, and criticize as you see necessary. 3  
_


	8. Escape

Sometime in the night Rose had turned over, her body pressing up against Nikola's. He was the first to wake up, watching how peaceful she looked in the grip of sleep. He was compelled to place a soft kiss on her lips, smiling when her eyes fluttered open softly. She yawned at first, stretching out her body as he wrapped his arms around her to pull her closer.

"Good morning?" The time of day was questionable to her, since there were no windows anywhere in the faerie mound.

"There has been some movement out in the hallway. It's safe to assume that it is morning or maybe late afternoon." He kissed her cheek before pulling away from her warm body, and getting out of the bed.

"Sneaking back to your room?" She frowned a little, burying her head in the pillow he was using.

"Yes. I'd rather not get berated for being an adult this early in the morning. Even Helen waited until I at least had a glass of wine before she started. I'll see you once I'm dressed." He blew her a kiss then opened the door, making sure no one was in the hallway before leaving.

Rose sighed to herself, breathing in the scent the scent of ozone he left behind. She smiled to herself and closed her eyes, starting to drift off into slip. It was some time later that Myrsina came into the room with several other attendants, a strong light glowing as one of the attendants waved her hand. The other ladies in the room only came up to Rose's thigh and had the most peculiar skin colorations some being a deep purple and others having pale green skin tones.

"Time to get up miss. Your father is insistent on a lunch in the gardens today." Myrsina pulled the covers off Rose's body, watching as the younger woman shivered from the loss of heat.

"I don't want to get up. I want to stay in bed all day." She said, swatting at the light from the veins in her walls.

They grew brighter until they resembled late morning sunlight. Myrsina rolled her eyes and began to tap her feet on the stone floor as Rose's bath was prepared for her. A loud groaning noise came from Rose as she started to get out of the bed, stretching out her tired arms. Her arms crossed over her chest, hiding the few red marks that adorned her breasts. She didn't think Nikola had bit her that hard last night, and she certainly had little complaint then… They were a little visible through the thin nightgown,

"Alright, off with the nightgown. What would you like to wear today?" Myrsina took the dress as Rose handed it to her, letting her hair fall down in front of her.

"Well, if we're going to be in a garden, then perhaps a nice sundress? Nothing that shows my back." Rose dipped a finger in the water, and got in after slipping out of her undergarments.

She sighed, letting her head slip under the water completely. When she came back up for air the ladies in waiting began to wash her arms and legs, Myrsina pulled up a stool and used her magic to dry Rose's hair. She hummed softly to herself as she brushed the tangles out of her hair, Rose turned slightly in the tub to speak with her.

"Myrsina, I have a question. I noticed last night that Finvarra wears a wedding band. What happened to his wife?" Rose closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying the warmth of the hot tub.

"His wife is still alive. Although, because of the way his majesty is raising their child they have become estranged. She did not want her daughter to become queen after Finvarra, she wanted her to have a normal childhood." Myrsina finished brushing out Rose's hair and sent away the servants.

"She doesn't have a choice in how her child is raised?" Rose asked, standing up out of the tub.

Myrsina shook her head and brought a towel over for Rose to wrap herself in.

"You have to understand; we're all very old and set in our ways. For most of us, women were only to be involved in the raising of the children. But for the royal children it is very different. Usually the parent that is our leader at the time has total control over them. Tania's mother couldn't stand it, and so left all of us. I think she does talk to her daughter every so often. But, since we didn't know about you everything in Tania's life has revolved around the study of our kingdom."

Rose nodded her hand and took the towel, dabbing herself off before wrapping the towel around her body. Myrsina laid out a beautiful white and green plaid sundress, with spaghetti strapped sleeves. She then pulled out a green, crocheted half jacket to go over the dress.

"I'm sure you wouldn't want his majesty seeing the hickey on your neck. And if I may say so miss, from our experience relationships with those like your friend only bring heartbreak." Myrsina laughed as Rose scrambled to clamp her hand over her neck, a soft blush spreading across her cheeks.

Myrsina left the room, allowing Rosella to get dressed in peace. She shook her head and looked in the mirror, pushing back her hair to reveal a bruised mark on her neck. Silently she cursed Nikola for biting her but was thankful that the jacket and keeping her hair down would hide it well. The dress was very soft against her skin, made of a lightweight cotton material. As she put the jacket around her shoulders there was a soft knocking on the door. She went over to the armoire and put on a pair of brown sandals before opening the door.

Nikola was on the other side, wearing a navy blue suit without the jacket. His eyes traveled from her exposed calves all the way up to her bright green eyes, she was an image and he couldn't get it out of his head. She blushed a little but took a step back in case he wanted to come in.

"My, don't you look ravishing. You really should wear dresses more often; your professor clothes are too old for you." Nikola grabbed one of her hands and brought it up to his mouth so he could kiss it.

"Speaking of old, do you wear anything other than suits?" She smiled, laughing softly at the small gesture.

He shook his head and held onto her hand, leading her outside into the hallway. Myrsina was lurking outside her door as usual, leaning against the stone walls. She led them down a winding staircase to a large set of mahogany doors with gold designs. When the doors were pushed open it led into a very brightly lit garden, the lighting in this room had specific designs with certain areas being brighter than others to oblige the plants. From one side of the garden there was beautifully carved waterfalls that lead into an underground stream, flowing throughout the gardens. Her breath was caught in her throat at the sheer beauty of the place.

"Nikola, it's so lovely." She said, placing a hand to her chest.

Nikola nodded and spied the faerie king and his daughter sitting at a table that had a few extra chairs. It was set up on a relatively flat piece of that garden, with roses and daisies making a half circle around the table. There were servants moving this way and that, carrying dishes of fruit, goblets and dinnerware. It was a flurry of activity until Nikola and Rosella approached the table. Finvarra rose from the table and after a few awkward glances were exchanged; Nikola helped Rose into her seat and took his own next to her.

"Is this your way of making up for dinner?" Rose furrowed her brow, picking up a round grape from her plate and sniffing it lightly.

"Yes. Our kind has…prejudices. But that should not stand in the way of me getting to know my daughter. And I can assure you nothing is poisoned." Finvarra noticeably frowned at her reaction, eating one of the grapes for emphasis.

"That's not it. I've read the folklore; you're not supposed to eat anything on the other side. Well, unless of course you want to stay trapped here, forever glamoured by faeries." She mused, placing the grape back on her plate.

Nikola's eyes shifted to watch her, hands folded neatly in front of the plate. It was her sign to him that she didn't trust something. He sighed to himself, glancing down at the plate before him. It was a lightweight ceramic, no harm there. The food seemed a little light, mostly consisting of grapes, slices of bread that were stuffed with meat and cheese, and a various selection of other fruits. He noticed the servants bring over three goblets on wine before he reached out with a slender hand and picked a grape off of his plate. When he bit into he noticed nothing out of the ordinary, and so had another.

"Rosie, I do believe you are forgetting that you are a faerie. Probably a full one at that, I doubt it would have the same effect." He smirked, the scowl on her face showing he had seen what she could not yet again.

There was a slight hesitant as she began to eat, thoroughly chewing the food before allowing it to be swallowed. She glanced around the table and noticed Tania. The little girl never did say much, but her eyes were always watching what was going on.

"So…Tania, tell me something about yourself." Rose said, eyeing the younger girl with special care.

Tania blinked, pushing a few strands of hair out of her eyes. She wore a sundress similar to Rose's but it was of a pale yellow color, with the neckline pulled up much higher.

"Well…there's not much to tell. I've been raised here my entire life, but I have an extensive knowledge base." Her eyes were piercing; Rose felt her stomach do flips as she was being watched.

Rose nodded, her ears perking up as she heard Finvarra clear his throat.

"She's been in training to replace me. Should the time come. So tell me Rose, how was it you came to know…Mr. Tesla?" He nodded his head towards Nikola, who in turn leaned forward resting his chin on his hand.

"Well, there was an incident at my school and on the insistence of my fa…Herr Richter, the man that raised me I was sent to the Sanctuary. Nikola tutored me in my subjects. My time there is more valuable to me than anything. We've had heartache, troubles, but we've also had good times and quite a bit to laugh about…" She lowered her eyes slightly, remembering how Ashley had died a little while ago.

One of Nikola's legs grazed hers; it was very comforting to her to have the physical contact. When she looked up again Finvarra was intently studying her facial features, perhaps trying to figure out what had brought about the change.

"A friend was lost…some time ago. It's still quite fresh for me at times." She spoke softly, placing another grape in her mouth before she spoke more than she wanted to.

Finvarra thought for a moment, as if he was deciding on a topic that would not be as painful for Rose.

"Rose… I would like for you to understand something about our situation. In our culture, the second born does not inherit our titles. Even though I did not marry your mother you are still my rightful heir. And as such, the heir to my throne." Nikola and Rose exchanged a look, her lips were pursed and her shoulders felt like they would break from tension.

"Finvarra, I doubt that Rosie would want to be your princess…" Nikola felt a soft kick against his shin, his head turned to look at Rose.

The soft features of her face were hardened into a scowl, her eyes showing the faintest hint of black flecks. Nikola maintained the same look of mock hurt, but in his head wheels began to turn at the notion of her darkened iris. Rose respectfully looked back at Finvarra and shook her head.

"What Nikola is trying to say is that I would have to speak with my Aunt Helen. I would not just up and leave without consulting her or my other friends. And if I do decide to take my place as your heir, what is to happen to Tania?" Rose talked as if she were trying to remain clam, and slowly the black bled out of her eyes and eventually returned to their normal green color.

Nikola made a mental note of this in his head but was rather intrigued with the answer. Fin cast a look to Tania, the child was still as stone and showed no outward signs that a question had even been asked about her. A long period of silence and Fin had felt confident that he had an answer to the question.

"She will still technically be considered a princess of my kingdom. However, she will no longer hold the same role. It is likely that she will be married off to one of the other noble families. Or, she may go into your world and have her memories erased. Which reminds me…my scouts returned sometime late in the night. They have found no traces of your friends in the tunnel leading to Hollow Earth." Finvarra leaned back in his chair, chewing on a piece of fruit.

Nikola and Rose stood at the same time, with nearly as much ferocity. Black was bleeding into Rose's eyes, with Nikola's completely turning into the inky color.

"And you are just telling us now?" Rose felt her blood boil slightly, but otherwise tried to retain a cooler attitude.

"It was not necessary. Whether you had found out then or now, your reaction would have been the same. However, I am going to allow you to leave and find out what is going on. I must insist that you take Tania and the Púca with you. They will be of more help to you than some insolent vampire." Fin had been a normal man would have wound up on the floor of the garden with ridiculously sharp nails sticking from his neck.

"This is not some kiddie play game. This is legitimate situation, we are facing. There is no way in hell we can take this kid with us!" Nikola didn't have his nails elongated yet, but they looked fairly sharp at the moment.

The garden had grown very quiet, save for the sound of water running through. Finvarra and Tania rose from their seats as well, only this time Rose felt the anger seeping off of Fin as though they were hot waves of air.

"Then you will not be leaving here. Guards! Escort them to their separate rooms. Make sure that they have no connection with each other." Finvarra snapped his fingers and instantly there were faeries that had Nikola and Rose in a death grip, carrying them off to their respective rooms. Rose felt herself snarling when she was thrown against the harsh stones of the floor.

Her eyes had completely bled to black and she felt sharp and jagged points on her teeth. She threw herself against the door, banging on it with all her strength but to no avail. The door was obviously made of something stronger than wood, and it would not give even under her new found strength.

Down the hall Nikola was just as upset to discover that he could not break free of the bonds. He was going crazy at being separated from Rosella; a chair was thrown across the room. It would break apart but was enchanted to reform and sit still, as though nothing had happened to it.

Myrsina had waited until the guard had taken the night off to come and see Rosella, bringing the Púca, Tania and a small black box along with her. The slight movement of the door caused Rose to move behind it, ready to pounce on whoever would come in to the room. It was dim so she really couldn't be blamed for tackling the poor woman to the ground.

Before she could think her hands were around Myrsina's throat. It was only a moment later that she realized what she was doing and jumped off of her with a fright.

"Myrsina…I'm so sorry. I didn't know." Her voice was a little raspy, but straightened out as Tania entered the room as well.

Myrsina rubbed at her red throat, but it did nothing to alleviate the itching. After a few moments her skin looked like it had been touched by poison ivy, Myrsina ignored this and wrapped a silk scarf around her neck.

"My lady, we don't have much time. You all need to get out of here. The King is rather upset that you wished to leave unaccompanied, but like other servants I do not think he is right in holding you here. Take Tania, he will be angry and try to find you but he eventually will get over it. That is one of the benefits of our long age… Now quickly, we must go and get your friend." Myrsina spoke in a hushed tone, quickly ushering everyone out of the room.

Rosella nodded and hurried down the hallway with the rest of the group. The Púca had changed back into a cuddly black rabbit, and stuck fairly close to Rosella. Nikola's reaction was much cooler than Rose's, of course his eyes were still an inky black but he calmed down upon seeing Rosella safe and sound.

"I take it we have overstayed our welcome?" Nikola straightened out his suit jacket and came out of the room, a smirk on his face.

Rose bit the inside of her cheek to keep from scowling at him; she instead flicked his arm and made a silencing motion with her hand. The group quietly made their way to the entrance of the faerie mound, being careful to check for anyone that would try to stop them. The winding hallways eventually evened out and became less grand, and more like the dirt walls Nikola and Rose encountered when they first entered the mound. Upon reaching the entrance Rose felt Myrsina stop behind them.

"This is where I leave you all. Someone has to stay behind and make sure they don't get too wise to your location. Go on without me, I've made it this long so I should be fine by myself." She winked to them then ushered them out the door.

On the other side, Rose felt herself growing oddly quiet. It was heartbreaking that Myrsina would stay behind and deal with whatever fit Finvarra would have, but they had to look on now and think about what would happen at Sanctuary.

Rosella felt a hand in each of hers and looked down; one hand was smaller and daintier than hers. The other was larger and slightly longer, with a hint of a feminine touch. She looked to Tania first, seeing emotion in the younger girls' eyes for the first time and it simply scared her to see the fear there. She couldn't bring herself to look at Nikola yet, but the group moved forward unsure of what would happen when they got back to Sanctuary.

* * *

_Wow...sorry for the delays, but life has caught up to me. I was so excited to see Nikola on the Sanctuary previews. 3_

_But I must remind readers that what I write and what is on the show, will vary greatly at times. But, I will try to stay on a general time line so that when Nikola actually does make an appearance in an episode I will put him and the corresponding characters in. And to answer this question, though it hasn't come up yet, Nikola and Rosella are not in love with each other yet. I will get into more as the story progresses but, Nikola is more obsessed with the idea of being with Rose. And Rose likes Nikola but she is still unsure, even now, how she feels. Thank you and please remember to comment and send me any questions if you have any. 3  
_


	9. No Funny Business

_What's this, two updates in the same week? Inconceivable! But, you guys deserve it. And since I have lost my job I will be working between this and school only. So enjoy, and I would like to remind my younger readers that from here on out there will be anywhere from a little to a lot of sexual content. This does not however mean that there will be sex. It might come up in later chapters, but not anytime soon. Enjoy and remember to review! 3_

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Rose felt the early signs of a headache, pulsating at the side of her head. Tania was sitting patiently, squished between Rosie and Nikola at the back of a cab that was headed towards Sanctuary. The Púca had kept the shape of a rabbit the whole way so that it wouldn't raise too many suspicions. Most of the other belongings were grudgingly accepted by the unhappy vampire to Tania's left, though they were only a small black box and what appeared to be a medium sized book covered in old black leather. Nikola looked over to Rose and saw her head laying against the cool glass of the cab.

"Are you alright Rosie?" His eyes shifted down as he saw Tania crane her head to look at Rose.

Rose shook her head and waved Nikola off, but her face contorted into a strange look as her stomach growled. Nikola smirked at her, and felt his heart lighten significantly at the sight of the Sanctuary. The cab pulled to a stop in front of the large building and the trio got out after Rose handed over a few pounds to the man.

Tania's eyes traced the outline of the structure, seeming to memorize it in her mind. She gripped Rose's hand in her own, finding certain things about the outside world to be rather odd. Nikola was slightly ahead of them and looked back at Rose, an annoyed look on his face. The doors swung open, revealing a relatively annoyed Helen on the other side.

"Nikola…where the hell have you two been? And who is that?" Helen had a calm voice, but Rose felt a shiver travel up her spine at its severity.

"Do we have a story to tell you…" Nikola smirked and strode into the building past Helen.

Rose frowned at him put pulled Tania in front of her, watching as she studied Helen with bright eyes.

"Aunt Helen…this is my half-sister, Tania…" Rose spoke in a low voice, almost too low for Helen to hear.

"I think perhaps we all need to have a talk in my office…" Helen narrowed her eyes slightly, turned on her heel and headed off to her office.

"Sounds like someone is going to be in trouble…" Nikola laughed and patted her lightly on the shoulder.

"Oh no you don't! We're both in trouble. We are also getting this vampire blood nonsense sorted out." She stopped herself short of dragging him along by his ear, instead opting for his arm.

Rose, with the help of Tania, finally got the older man to go into Helen's office willingly. Helen was seated behind her desk, three chairs were set up just for them. Rose felt like she was a child again, having to go into the headmistresses office for something that had gone wrong.

Tania sat in between Nikola and Rose again, cutting off their chance for a physical connection. Nikola made a special note of this and feigned interest when Helen began demanding answers.

"Well…when John and Adam disappeared, Nikola and I were going to go through one of the other tunnels to try and reach Hollow Earth. I was recovering from the wound and Nikola…" She trailed off, finding herself not wanting to tell Helen of how she had become tainted by the vampire blood.

"I gave her vampire blood. She healed up rather nicely, except for the scar that is left over." Nikola felt his mouth parch and rose from his seat to go find a glass of wine.

"You did what?" Helen stood from her seat, an angry aura flaring around her.

"Aunt Helen it was the only way. I wouldn't have been able to go and find….my real father." Rose winced without being touched, a nervous twitch for her.

Nikola returned with his glass of wine and felt his eyes narrow as Rose lowered her face so she didn't have to look at Helen.

"Nikola, is this true? And if it is…I take it you're back to being 'vamped'?" Helen clenched her hand tightly, taking her seat back.

"Yes. But I can assure you that she was not affected too much. Her father is an admitted control freak, but we're here and our escape is really what matters." Nikola mused, taking small sips of his wine.

"You were held captive?" Helen's eyebrows furrowed together and she now turned her attentions to the young girl between the two of them.

"We'll explain everything." Rose said finally, looking up to meet Helen's eyes.

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An hour later and they were all still in Helen's office, better off now that Helen knew what had happened to them.

"Well Rose…this is certainly an interesting development. Of course I will run any tests that you want and we can find out if De-Vamping you is even an option. Though, we will need to see how the vampire blood has integrated into your system. And since Nikola is still no longer a vampire we will have to find some other way to bring you back if it is possible. I am actually going to be leaving tomorrow. So if you two could run a few tests and report to me your findings then we can deal with all of this when I get back." Helen smiled and stood, walking over to pull Rose into a tight hug.

"Yes Aunt Helen, thank you so much. I suppose that I can give Tania the room next to mine?" She returned the hug and stepped back to place a hand on Tania's shoulder.

"Of course, we will go in the next few days to get her some suitable clothes. Until then she can use your old clothes." Helen smiled down at the young girl and watched their forms retreat from her office.

"Nikola… No funny business." She said as she watched Nikola begin to follow them out.

Nikola smirked and walked with Rosella and Tania to their rooms. Tania's room was a little smaller than Rose's but would be suitable for the young girl for now. Nikola attempted to hand over Tania's book and box but she insisted that they go to Rosella.

"That's alright Mr. Tesla. They rightfully belong to the firstborn, legitimate or not." Tania curtsied and retreated in her room to take a nap.

Rosella shook her head and took the items from Nikola, walking the short distance to her room. Of course Nikola was right behind her and had enough sense to lock and shut her bedroom door once they were inside. The book and box were placed on her desk, and when she turned around Nikola was making himself comfortable on his bed without a jacket or shoes. Rose wrinkled her nose but stepped in the closet, taking off the sun dress to change into a pair of black spandex shorts that barely reached mid-thigh, and a dark green tank top.

She stepped out and felt his eyes on her body, causing a deep flush to come across her cheeks. Her eyes traveled up and down his body to mimic the movements of his own eyes.

"Nikola…if you're going to sleep in here you can't wear all of that. You'll make it ridiculously…hot." Rose crawled under the covers of the bed and turned away from him in case he was taking off some of his clothes.

She felt silly for acting this way after the moment they had shared in Fin's realm but she still was unsure of how she felt towards him, even if she was sure she felt some type of romantic feelings towards him. Nikola reluctantly got out of the bed and stripped down to his boxers, then got under the covers next to Rose. He instinctively wrapped his arms around her waist, the action lifting the bottom of her tank top up to expose her soft stomach.

"Nikola, don't even think about it." She said, swatting his hands lightly.

Nikola rolled his eyes and ignored her, nipping at the tender flesh on her neck. She moaned softly and buried her head into the pillow, fighting back moans as his teeth suddenly got sharper to tear into her neck.

"Don't you dare bite me with those fangs…" Her breath came out in a husky whisper, but her body betrayed her by inching back into Nikola.

A fair amount of heat was already being generated between the two of them, despite the chill that come from rain beating against her window. Nikola groaned into her neck but settled for biting her neck almost hard enough to break the skin. His hands began pushing her shirt up higher until the creamy flesh of her breasts was exposed. He shifted his weight, gently pushing her onto her back so he could lie partly on top of her.

Rose moved her hands to push him off but he gripped her wrists lightly, holding them above her head. His eyes had turned an inky black color from the sheer amount of lust he felt in this position, but he managed to keep his voice down low enough so Tania wouldn't hear in the next room.

"Just…let me do this. Please? I won't sleep with you if you don't want me too, but I just need this and I know you do too." He lowered his head, allowing himself a moment for his teeth to go back to normal before nipping one of her nipples.

Rose felt her whole body tense up and a small tingling sensation start in her stomach. Her hands moved uncomfortably wanting to be free to touch him but Nikola would not release her wrists. He turned his attentions to her other breast, placing soft kisses on it and occasionally finding himself swirling his tongue around her nipple.

She openly panted, turning her head so that her mouth would be pressed against her arm to stifle her pleased noises. Nikola finally allowed her the use of her hands, letting her stroke the side of his face and play with her hair. He moved face to face with her, capturing her lips in a deep kiss. His tongue gently ran over her bottom lip and he even managed to give it a light nip before she had to pull away to breathe.

Her green eyes were beginning to bleed into black but she fought for control of her emotions. She watched as he kissed a trail between her breasts, down to the skin of her stomach. A smile came across Rose's face as he licked and tickled her stomach, making circular patterns with his tongue. Nikola didn't want to deal with the fabric of the shorts and ripped them like paper.

Rose sat up, hands covering her breasts as she watched Nikola discard of the pieces.

"I really wish you would just pull them off. I don't think I'll have any night clothes if you keep staying here." She frowned and made a small noise as she was pushed onto her back.

Nikola was not so gentle this time and she hit her head on the headboard, causing small spots to dance in her vision. She closed her eyes while trying to straighten out her vision, noticing the spots disappeared after a few seconds. Nikola kissed the area just above her panty line, taking the time to admire her before he pulled off her underwear. Nikola took a moment to admire her naked form and he made note of her lack of body hair.

He touched the edge of her vaginal lips and felt a slick wetness. Gently he traced along her lips and then lightly rested his finger at her opening applying a small amount of pressure to push his finger tip inside of her. He looked at her as he touched her, finding that she was more arousing with her eyes closed and her hand covering the noises that threatened to spill from her mouth.

Nikola kept his hands busy teasing her while he moved up to kiss her reddened cheeks, giving them the softest of licks with his tongue. Slowly he inserted the rest of his finger into her and he could feel her body tense around him. She whimpered softly and he made small cooing noises, trying to calm her nervousness and her fears.

"Just relax Rosie, I'm not going to hurt you." He nuzzled her cheek and sucked a bit on her neck in an attempt to distract her from the slight discomfort.

He felt softness inside of her there as he began to move his finger in and out of her. He found a slight difficulty with this motion, but in short time her body began to respond to the pleasure he was giving her.

He picked up his speed when her breath got shallow and used his thumb to rub her sensitive nub. Nikola watched her intensely, noticing that she had gripped his upper arm and rocked her body into his.

Rose felt her body tense up for a moment before Nikola covered her mouth with his own and she let out a loud moan of pleasure. Her body felt shaky and she could feel a thin layer of sweat on her body. He pulled his hand away from her, licking at the liquid on his fingers.

"Rose, I'm quite fond of you." He whispered this into her neck before biting hard enough to break the skin.

She winced and tried to push him off of her body, but he proved to be stronger than her. Her whimpers touched his heart but he was not ready to release her neck just yet. When he finally did let her go he lapped up any blood that seeped from the wounds he had made.

Tears were in her eyes, threatening to spill over as his intense inky black eyes looked into her green ones. He kissed her softly, reminding himself that he needed to be gentle with her. She returned the kiss reluctantly and allowed him to roll her on to her side. It was then she noticed something had been pressing up against her thigh; she glanced down and saw a bulge in Nikola's boxers.

He made soft noises against her neck as their bodies were pressed against each other. Rose blushed harder and made a small noise in her throat as he rubbed the bulge against her and was rewarded with a soft squeak from Rosella. Her eyes were shut tightly, with her arms firmly against her sides. Nikola felt a scowl cross his face but he gently kissed her on the lips.

"Rosie look at me. I'm sorry for biting you." He pulled back from her, watching one eye cautiously open, then the other.

His voice had changed; it was deeper and resonated with her like when he usually vamped out. And in all honesty that voice scared her completely. He saw this and sought to distract her, reaching to turn off the light on her bedside table while simultaneously kissing her. What resulted was the faintest sparks of electricity between their lips; just enough to cause a reaction but not enough to harm Rose.

She moaned against his mouth, allowing him the opportunity to explore her mouth with his tongue. He grabbed one of her hands, bringing it down to rub against the bulge in his boxers. Rose pulled her face away from him, looking down between their two bodies out of sheer curiosity as he guided her hand into his boxers. Her hand brushed against something hard and she felt a curiosity rise up again as she gently stroked his manhood.

Nikola growled in his throat, burying his head into her neck and thrusting his hips against her hand. He pressed against her body, his hips fixed between hers with a slight rocking motion. There was tightness in her stomach as she continued to stroke along his length, finding it slightly hard with her hand pressed between the two of them. She was pushed onto her back, taking her hand with her as Nikola wrapped one arm around her waist. She felt his lips furiously kissing and sucking her neck, it was all she could do to keep her voice down.

"Nikola, we've got to stop…" She said breathlessly, a shiver running through her body as she felt electricity in the air.

She heard a large boom of thunder outside, Nikola's eyes turned black and he moved his hips harder against hers. One of his hands reached up to stroke the side of her cheek, brushing her lips with his thumb. With the hand around his waist he gently pulled his boxers down, allowing his erection to be pressed against her most sensitive area. Rose felt a jolt of panic in her heart and sat up quickly, Nikola still on top of her.

"Nikola…don't." She was stern with him now, more than a little uncomfortable at being in this situation.

"Rosie, entspannen und mir vertrauen." He whispered against her ear, sitting up so that he was kneeling on the bed.

He pulled her up against him so that she was now straddling his legs, his hardened erection pressed against the softness of her intimate parts. Nikola pushed his hips against her, letting his full length run against her vagina. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, nuzzling softly into the flesh of his shoulder as he worked against her to maintain some type of control over himself. His speed gradually increased and Rose began to move her hips together with his, also giving an occasional nibble on his neck.

After a few moments Rose felt a twitch where their hips were close to being joined, and Nikola pulled back allowing a hot white liquid to squirt onto Rose's lower stomach. She winced slightly at the feel of the liquid against her skin and waited for Nikola to let her go. He allowed her to get off of the bed and leave him there, panting heavily on the bed.

Rose's cheeks were now burning a bright red and she picked up her underwear and tank top, retreating to the safety of her bathroom. Nikola frowned at the fact that Rose had locked the bathroom door but pulled his boxers up and began going around and folding his discarded clothing on the chair at Rose's desk. He then went over and cracked her window slightly, the smell of ozone and rain quickly replacing the smell of sweat in the room.

Rose returned a short while later, her hair lightly damp and her body dried from the remnants of shower water. The towel she had wrapped around her was tied at the corner, opened only a little at the bottom giving Nikola a generous view of her thigh. She frowned seeing his eyes on her and went into the closet to put on a pair of pajama bottoms and a new tank top.

When she finally did crawl back into the bed Nikola had resumed his earlier position with his arms wrapped around her waist and his lips upon her neck. She felt as he gently licked at the already healing wounds on her neck, making sure to run his tongue along her pulse. Rose rolled her eyes at him and turned around his arms, pressing one hand against his chest.

"You're absolutely ridiculous. I'm glad you didn't sleep with me but it got dangerously close with your lack of control." She scolded him, but resigned herself to kissing his cheek.

"I understand. And I am sorry, but we've both been stressed. We just needed…relief." He muttered against her neck, closing his eyes as he suddenly felt tired.

There was a soft knock at Rosella's door and she mentally cursed Nikola, throwing one of her larger undershirts at him so he would be relatively covered. She opened the door and saw Tania clutching the little Púca, still in rabbit form. Tania wore long white pajama pants and a black tank top. Her eyes were slightly red whether from sleep or crying Rosella could not tell. She kneeled down to be eye level with Tania and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Tania, what's wrong?" Rose smiled at her and looked down to see the Puca change into what looked like a dark-skinned pixie with pale red wings.

"I had a nightmare. Rei kept moving around too and it just woke me up. Can I sleep with you?" She yawned and moved forward into the room as Rose gave her a gentle push in.

"Sure darling, go ahead and get in bed Nikola will move over for you." She smiled and saw the look Nikola got on his face.

Nikola sighed and scooted off of the bed while Tania got in on the far left. Rei, the little Púca had taken sanctuary in the bundled up curtains at the top of Rose's bed. Rose drew the curtains around the bed in an attempt to keep some of the cold from getting in before she climbed in beside Tania. Nikola slipped in shortly after, keeping a firm hand on Rose's hip.

Tania cuddled against the front of Rose's body, yawning softly as she drifted off into sleep. Rose waited until she felt Tania's breath even out before she turned her head to look at Nikola. She was met with passionate blue-gray eyes that bored into her soul.

"Nikola?" She whispered to him and was answered with a soft kiss planted on her cheek.

"What is it Rosie?" He yawned softly and allowed himself to rest his head on her shoulder.

"Do you love me?" She turned a bit more so she was on her side and Nikola's arm was now draped across the lower part of her stomach.

He thought for a moment before he could answer. Of course he cared for her; he had since she was just a child at the Sanctuary. And she, like Helen would always hold a special place in his heart. But, love might be a stretch for the older vampire and he wasn't sure he could tell her just yet that he loved her because he wasn't sure himself.

"I don't know Rosie. I do have feelings for you, but only time will tell what they are." He spoke carefully, thinking about each word before he said it.

"I'm fond of you…" She said quietly, chastely kissing him on the lips before pulling the covers up over all of them.

Sleep would come quickly for them that night.


	10. Betrayal

Well, chapter 10 is now up. It's quite strange to me getting this far with the story because I know that eventually it will have to end. There will probably around 10 more chapters before I finish out this story, but I have good news. I am incredibly certain that there will be a sequel made. For now, enjoy the latest chapter and please remember to review. And if some of you would like, I will post my AIM information in case there are any questions, comments or concerns. AIM: sydXstacy. 3

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Rose awoke sometime later from the afternoon sun shining through her window. She put her hands up to her face, trying to block out any signs of the brightness but it was to no avail. There was a sigh that came from her then she stretched out, finding no sign of the warm bodies that had shared her bed last night. Sitting up she saw that someone had taken the liberty of taking the dirty clothes out of her room, and perhaps Nikola's clothes from last night.

She sighed and got up from the bed, walking over to the closet to pick something out to wear for the day. There was a fluttering of wings and she turned around to see Rei hovering around her.

"Oh, good evening Rei. Did you sleep well last night?" She asked, smiling to the smaller faerie.

"Yes mistress. However, I am afraid that the vampire has disappeared." The voice was so small that Rose wasn't sure she had heard it at first.

There was an immense pain in Rose's chest at the thought of Nikola leaving Sanctuary. She was just beginning to try and figure things out and he went and left her alone. It was understandable that she was upset considering that last night had been…beyond words, despite the fact that she would now have to wear her hair low and prevent Aunt Helen from figuring out that Nikola had turned into a vampire again.

She sighed and pulled on a dark green maxi dress, then brushed out her hair and let it fall over the shoulder where Nikola had bitten her last night. At the rate she seemed to be healing though it would only leave tiny scars. She looked over to her desk and noticed that the black box was still there.

On the top of the box was a carving of a young woman. Her eyes were colored a bright green, the same color as Rosella's. The dress she wore was wrapped once around her chest, the rest falling around her hips and legs to look like a flower. It was made of rich red material and had minor traces of gold. The woman's hair was a deep gold with red highlights and fell down her back in cascading waves. Decorating her hair was a single golden rose.

"Rei…who is that woman?" Rose asked, tracing her fingers along the carving on the box.

Rei fluttered over to the box and took a seat on the desk next to it. Her little eyes intently studied the picture before she turned and looked up to Rose.

"I think that is the Queen Mother Rosmerta. She was queen before Finvarra, in the dark times. She was your grandmother. The gold rose that she wears is a symbol of the great house that her grandmother built many years ago after the Faerie Wars. It can only be passed down to an immediate female relative that will succeed the throne, since our society is built with women being heads of house." Rei yawned and flied up to sit on Rosella's shoulder.

Rose opened the box and sure enough the golden rose was sitting there, glittering with untold power. She carefully picked it up and saw that it would need to be tied into her hair. Being careful of the Púca on her shoulder she tied her hair off to the side, showing off the gold rose.

"How does it look?" She said, watching Rei fly in front of her face and give her a thumbs up.

Rose smiled and allowed Rei to settle on her shoulder before grabbing the book and heading down to the lab. When she got there she saw no sign of anyone else having been there since she and Nikola had disappeared to Finvarra's kingdom. She took out an electronic tablet and a syringe. Rei flew around the room and tried to find a place to sit where she wouldn't be in the way. Rose winced when she inserted the needle and took out some of her own blood.

She typed away on the tablet and pulled up the specifics on her previous sample from when she first came to the Sanctuary. Humming lightly she used a small bit of the blood and put it in an electronic device to determine the specifics. When she pulled the two up to compare them she noticed little difference even with the addition of the vampire blood into her system. The only difference between then and now was her healing process, which she had already deduced would affect her in a positive manner.

She sighed outwardly and examined the blood still in the syringe, a dark crimson color. The syringe was placed off the side as her mind began to wander to Nikola. The electronic tablet she held beeped before her thoughts got too far, it had pulled up the sample of Nikola's DNA and overlaid it with Rosella's DNA. The strands were near identical, except Rose was missing an entire half of her DNA compared to Nikola's. She still was seeing a red strand representative of the vampiric blood in her veins, but it was there even in the original sample. Her eyebrows furrowed and she scribbled some notes before walking over to the intercom, taking her notepad with her.

"Kate. Do you see my sister wandering around?" She spoke into the intercom, watching Kate's face come into view.

"She's down here in Will's office." Kate said, clicking the intercom off once Rose stepped out of view.

Rose rolled her eyes and motioned Rei to follow her down to Will's office. Rei changed into a black dog with bright red eyes this time and padded softly after her. Will's office was a little more of mess than she remembered and she laughed at the sight of chaos in the room.

"You guys can't handle watching a little kid?" Rose smirked and saw Tania come out of hiding behind Will's desk.

Kate was visibly frazzled and sat on the very edge of Will's desk. The Big guy she assumed was off running errands and Will was sitting at his desk, his head in his hands.

"Oh Rose, thank god. Kate thought it would be a good idea to give a faerie sugar, so little Nia here has been running all about causing mayhem and mischief." Will said, looking up at Rosella.

Tania was bouncing around a little more than usual, but it was still a pleasant change from the shy girl she had first met in Finvarra's kingdom. Rose laughed a little and knelt down, pulling the smaller girl into a hug.

"Are you enjoying time with your Uncle Will and Aunt Kate?" Rose was greeted with a furious nod and a return hug.

"Since when did we become Aunt and Uncle?" Will asked, slightly annoyed at the prospect of looking after the child.

"Since I slept until the afternoon. Besides if I ever have kids you'll still be Aunt and Uncle. Might as well get used to it. Now, has Aunt Helen contacted us yet?" She asked joining Kate on the edge of Will's desk.

"Not yet, but we are expecting her call later this evening. Any particular reason you want to know?" He asked, yawning slightly before standing up from his desk.

"I have to keep her abreast of what is going on with me…since Finvarra's kingdom." She said softly, casting a glance over to Tania.

"What have you found out so far?" Kate asked, stepping away from the desk to see what Tania was doing.

"Well, I compared my DNA to Nikola's from when he was a vampire. The only difference between me and Nikola is that I am missing part of my DNA ladder. And the vampire blood has…always been present in my DNA." Rose said, reading through her notes one more time.

"What does that mean for you?" Will asked, stretching his body out as he watched Rose.

"I know what it means." Tania spoke up from her spot on the floor reading.

All eyes turned to Tania, waiting to hear what the little girl had to say. She stood up and stood in front of the adults, straightening out the grey dress she had taken from a box in Rose's closet. Rose leaned forward, intrigued in what the girls had to say.

"Father allowed a tutor to explain it to me once, and it is also in that book that I gave you; it's a guarded secret only a few at court know of. Faeries and vampires used to be one unified species at one time. Over time, it was discovered that some of us had latent regenerating powers while the rest of us could age and die normally as the humans could." She took a pause and looked for a glass of water she had set down earlier, taking a drink while she allowed the first bit of information to sink in.

Rose stood stunned. It was no wonder that Nikola had become terribly fascinated in Finvarra and the way his kingdom worked. The Faeries were essentially vampires that could die.

"So then…how did they get separated into two different species? And how was I not affected." Rose asked, pulling out a pen to take a few notes on the matter while Tania was having a low sugar moment.

"I was getting to that. When the vampires discovered they were seemingly superior to Faeries we were forced into the underground, while they ruled the world above. As our two species bred, any remnant of Faerie blood in vampires was all but removed leaving us with the third ladder of our DNA in common. Also, those who are supposed to ascend the throne are missing a piece of their DNA. When we are joined with our soul mate our children become more powerful, which is crucial for the rulers. This also explains why my sister is more in tune with her powers than I am. Naturally, dissension became common amongst us so the various Faeries fought for control of the underground, leading to the Daoine Sidhe coming to power. After we had settled quarrels amongst ourselves it was our grandmother, Rosmerta that began a war against the vampires. They of course went extinct with help from the humans, but we were still forced to maintain our lands underground by your leaders. Although, we do have a peaceful co-existence now with the humans." Tania mused, looking to Kate for a moment before she went back to reading her book.

"So in some way Nikola and I are related, albeit distantly…" Rose frowned slightly and shook her head, stepping away from the desk.

"Are you alright Rose?" Will took a step towards her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Yes…I'm quite fine. Just a lot to think about…" She sighed and put a hand to her throbbing temples, taking a seat on the couch.

"Take a nap. We'll watch little Nia until you get up, we can always dump her on Declan." Will gave her a wink and went off with the others to take care of business.

Rosella nodded and sank deeper into the couch, letting sleep find her quickly.

* * *

Rosmerta was sitting underneath a tree in Finvarra's garden, in all of her glory only this time the golden rose was missing from her hair. She looked at Rosella, patting the space next to her to urge Rosella to have a seat.

"Come and sit with me grandchild. I'm sure we have much to discuss." She smiled, and Rosella found her voice strangely inviting.

She obliged her grandmother, taking a seat next to her under the shade of the large Ash tree. Her dress was the same she had been wearing that day and she gingerly touched her hair to feel the golden rose still tied.

"How is it we can talk to each other? I thought you were…killed." Rose spoke softly, glancing around to look at the differences between this garden and the one in Finvarra's underground realm.

"It's quite simple my dear. When our people die, we don't exactly die a true death. We can pass our spirit on to something and those who come after us can use that item to communicate with the living. For the queens in our bloodline, the gold rose was passed on as a way to have an advisor with you." Rosmerta smiled and placed a hand on her granddaughters shoulder.

It was a small action but Rosella could feel the power behind that one hand, even in this dream-like state. The hand on her shoulder was removed and Rosmerta waved her hands producing two cups in the shape of a golden flower, with five petals folded back to allow the cup holder access to the drink. A ghostly figure, near shapeless save for the hand sticking out holding a flagon for the two. Honey colored mead was poured into the waiting cups of the ladies before the silvery shadow disappeared from the garden.

"Now, we spirits don't usually just show up like this. So why don't you tell your dear grandma what's the matter and I'll see if we can't figure this out." She smiled and set the kept partially on her lap, only occasionally taking a few sips.

"I'm sorry I have a question first. Aren't most of the Sidhe like me? I mean don't their powers have some relation with nature or is that exclusive to me?" She sipped at the mead, finding it bitter.

"Of course not my dear. There are some Faeries that are in tune with nature. Not all of us have the same powers, just as the vampires didn't have the same powers. It's more or less random what powers we get. I happened to have powers over abundance. Your father has powers over death. The powers can sometimes greatly contrast with your parents, but they are hardly ever the same. Now this problem of yours…" She drank her mead and set the cup down on the grass, where vines sprouted up the tree and the cup turned into a golden flower.

"Ah…yes. Well, this man…eh, vampire that I like… We have been having difficulties as of late." She spoke quietly, remembering how her father had told her that Rosmerta was killed by the vampires.

"My dear, the great war was long ago. We all did things we wish we could take back, my consorting with vampires did lead to my death but things are so different now that it is only natural you should want to seek out comfort from someone." Rosmerta hugged Rosella about her shoulders; arms tensed with years of muscle enveloped the smaller framed woman.

Rose rested her head against Rosmerta's shoulder, feeling a warmth radiate from her grandmother.

"I'm afraid. I have to take care of Tania now and while I do have help I'm not certain how good of a job I can do. And with Nikola just suddenly taking off after I was feeling something for him, it's just terribly strange. I know he doesn't love me; he loves his plans for world domination. I don't want to wind up as a pawn in his plans. I could see myself being with him, but only if he abandoned his plans for world domination." Rose sighed and drank the last of her mead before setting it in the grass where it transformed into a real golden flower as Rosmerta's cup had.

"The women in our family do not crave power as the men do. It is part of who you are to deny the opportunity to expand on the kingdom and allow what is already there to flourish. However, I do understand the yearning for world dominance. Power is a drug; once you feel it you cannot stop yourself from wanting more. Though, this was a distinction that caused the rift between our two kingdoms. You can work through this, I'm certain of it." Rosmerta kissed her forehead, and it was only a second later that Rosella blinked and she was lying on the couch in Will's office.

She sat up and looked around the office, seeing no one. Rose stood up and walked out of the office, spotting Declan walking down the hallway with his hands in his pockets.

"Declan! What's going on? Where is everybody?" She smiled and put a hand on his shoulder as she tried to keep up with the taller man's strides.

"I'm on my way to inform Kate's team that we cannot leave. Apparently while Will was headed to the restaurant he and his little friend were kidnapped. Kate was going to go in with a team after them, but we found out the group was going to be smuggling abnormals on the 'ghost ship'. Helen said to wait at the docks for the ship to come in so we can nab them, Will's on his own for now." Declan said, reaching the elevator to stop Kate.

While he was relaying Helen's message, Rose thought about where Tania had run off to in the mayhem of things. Kate looked at Rose and laughed silently, wondering how the girl got about anymore in just dresses.

"I'll go grab a gun and meet you guys down at the cars. By the way…where is Tania?" She eyed Kate, finding it strange to actually see her in legitimate wear for Sanctuary work.

"Don't worry, Tania is being looked after. So go hurry up, we don't have all day to wait." Kate shot Rose a wink before the elevator doors closed and the group of soldiers went downstairs.

Rose smirked and ran to her room, quickly taking off her dress and putting on a pair of black jeans and a black short sleeved shirt. She went over to her desk and grabbed the Colt out of her drawer before heading out the door. When she got downstairs she was greeted with a pat on the shoulder, which Rose tried to shrug off.

"Honestly Kate, I'm not your buddy. I am your amazing older co-worker. Now let's get to work shall we?" She laughed a little and headed out the door with the others. They took a two different cars, not taking them very long to reach the docks. The different groups spread out, with Rose crouching down behind two boxes. Now all they had to do was wait for the bad guys.

* * *

Back at Sanctuary, Tania was sitting in the library reading through some of the books on abnormals. She felt a slight tingling in her pocket and pulled out a small hand mirror, only instead of seeing her reflection she saw Finvarra looking back at her.

"What progress have you made Tania?" Finvarra spoke quietly, his eyes heavy and dark as he scanned Tania's face.

"The vampire has gone off to find his Queen, so we will not have to worry about him. I will place the note in Rosella's book very shortly and she will think that she is not good enough for Nikola. After that it will only be a matter of time before you have your heir back, ready to follow your every command." Tania looked at the door for a brief moment before turning back to the mirror.

"Very good. You have your orders, now carry them out." Finvarra's tone was harsh, once he had finished speaking Tania saw herself reflected in the mirror.

She walked out of the library and went next door to Rosella's room, taking out a piece of paper and pen.

* * *

After the bad guys were properly taken care of the team headed back to the Sanctuary for a little relaxation before bed time. Rosella smiled to herself, happy that they had helped the abnormals and put some bad people away for good. Stepping inside her room Rosella noticed that Tania was already curled up underneath the covers. She shook her head and sat at the desk putting her gun away in its drawer before picking up the book Tania had given her. When she opened the book a small folded letter fell out. Written in a slanted but elegant writing was her name. She furrowed her brows and opened the letter, reading silently:

_Dear Rosie,_

_ I was hoping that you would find this letter after I had left, and since I have not been attacked yet I am assuming that you have not found this yet. I have left after obtaining knowledge that the Queen of vampires is still alive. You cannot provide me with what I need. When I find the queen I am certain that she will want to further Sanguine Vampiris. If I am to take over the world and be king of the vampires I will need a queen that is equally as strong as myself, not some wimpy princess that can barely make up her mind whether she wants to be with her people or not. At least if I meet the Vampire Queen there is a chance of me taking her as a mate. You were not good enough for me. And I doubt you ever will be._

_Nikola_

Rosella sat there for a moment, re-reading the words quite a few times before she folded it back and put it in the book. Casting a glance towards the bed she held in her sniffles and climbed under the covers, before finally allowing her tears to flow freely. Tania cracked an eye open from her spot on the bed, smiling to herself as she saw Rose's shoulders shake with sobs.

* * *

That's the end of this chapter people, the next one should be up by Wednesday. That should give me enough time to finish up the chapter. Thanks again for reading! And don't forget to review! 3


	11. Vampire, remember?

_Sorry for the delay in update guys...I love you? But, I'm in classes so it's going to be slow until at least maybe July. I will be making up for it though with the occasional long chapter. And I regret to inform you that this story will be ending in a few chapters. Never fear though, I will be making a sequel. Please remember to review. It makes me sad when I see people add me to alert lists and don't try to help me improve my stories, or give me an ego boost. . Please enjoy this chapter and review. :D_

* * *

Nikola showed up later in the week. Rosella had barely talked to him, only long enough to confirm that she would be going on the trip with him and Helen. Currently they were in the hot desert, making their way towards a hidden building of sorts. Rose wiped a few beads of sweat from her forehead and straightened her black shorts out. Of course Helen and Nikola had taken to more formal dressing, but Rosella opted for shorts and a tank top to help keep her body a little less restricted. The golden rose passed through her family had been used to She scowled and watched as Nikola became fascinated with writings on the walls. Rose felt chilled in the building now, evident by a shudder throughout her body. A bad feeling rose up in the pit of her stomach. This could not end well. A few more steps and a purple laser shot out from the wall and hit her at such an odd angle that her lung was pierced. Her eyes shut tightly in pain, and she couldn't feel her body healing any time soon.  
She fell to the ground with a thud, Nikola and Helen removing their shields before kneeling down beside the fallen Faerie. A cough and blood seeped out from the corner of her lips. Her eyes fell to Nikola, full of pain, rage and a number of other emotions. A hand moved to her chest, pressing tightly to help slow the bleeding. Disbelief entered the grey-blue eyes of Nikola, he wondered if she could make it or not.  
"The beam punctured one of her lungs. Whatever it was, it's designed to stop her from healing magically. And it seems to have negated what little vampiric blood she has in her." Helen spoke softly, pushing the hair back from Rosella's face.  
"So we have to find some way to heal her." Nikola was mad at himself.  
If only they had gone to some other location, if he hadn't been so certain that this place had been the only place he wanted to go then maybe... Rose groaned as she felt the blood pooling in her lungs. Dying was such a terrible feeling, her blood drizzled out of her body at a fast rate and she could feel her body starting to go to hell. Nikola's hand against the skin of her chest was the only comfort she felt, well and the knowledge that she would die happy after this moment.  
"Nikola...why did you...leave?" Her breath came out shallow and she wanted to close her eyes, but she fought against the urge.  
His eyes became cold then as he looked down at her, he hadn't thought his leaving was such a big issue. Helen moved away to give them a little space and began looking at a small piece of wall with vampiric symbols on it.  
"Rosie. I just needed time. I had too much to think about. I came back didn't I?" He smirked and used his free hand to stroke her cheek.  
"But...this note..." Her hand weakly reached into her pocket, feeling around for the note.  
She pulled it out and Nikola carefully read through the note. As he opened his mouth to say something, Helen hit a button and the wall opened up to reveal a body encased in a large purple-pink crystal. Nikola put the note back in her pocket and shook his head.  
"It's the Queen of the Vampires." Helen said softly, wondering for a moment about the woman encased in crystal.  
His heart rate should have increased but he was forcing himself to stay calm for Rose's sake. He was helping her to stop bleeding out, but he could only do so much for her before he couldn't do anything else. Her eyes felt heavy and she wanted to sleep but Nikola wouldn't allow her to. "From what I can tell, since Rose doesn't have regenerative powers in her bloodline naturally it would seem that she needs a stronger source blood to keep it sustained well enough. It's much like how John needs a sample of my blood every so often to keep him young." Helen ran over to the wall again and began to read from the glyphs.  
Nikola had lessened the pressure on Rosella's chest and she felt the liquid rush of blood creeping down her chest.  
"Nikola! Bloody pay attention." She growled out at him and put her hand on top of his, pressing down harder if he wasn't going to keep her blood back.  
"Why Rosie...if you wanted my hands on you all you had to do was ask." He smirked down at her and brought his other hand up to affectionately stroke her cheek.  
Helen rolled her eyes at them and had not found a way out. She thought for a moment about the vampire queen laying a few feet from them in slumber and looked to Nikola. They shared a look and Helen moved over to her bag, taking out the small laser pain and focusing the beam on the crystalline structure. There was the small sound of cracking, but the small beam was not enough to break through. Nikola growled out in frustration.  
"Come over here and keep pressure on the wound." His face had contorted with the vamping.  
Helen sat down beside Rose, pressing one hand where Nikola's would have been and letting the other fall to grip her hand loosely. Rosella's eyes were slightly glazed over. Too much of her blood had been lost already and she was certain she could feel her life force leaving her. Nikola vamped out and took to wailing on the crystalline structure with one of the weapons Helen had among their things.  
Rose closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying the feel of quiet...cold. Helen's eyes widened as she put a hand up to Rosella's neck. The pulse was so faint that it could hardly be said it was there at all.  
"Nikola!" Helen put an arm around her back and held her up, leaning her over so she could get a better look at her 'condition'.  
"I know!" Nikola snapped and ran over to the packs, grabbing out a syringe.  
There were few cracks that seemed deep enough for the long needle to fit through but Nikola was determined to make it work. For her sake. He forced the needle in then slowly pressed until he thought he hit a vein. His fingers shakily pulled back on the plunger of the syringe and he withdrew the entire syringe just as quickly and ran over to Rosella's limp body. There should have been a pulse that he heard, the steady beat of life pumping through her, but he heard nothing coming from her body.  
He scowled and pushed the straps of her tank top down, revealing just to top of a black bra. The needle was pressed far into her chest, the tip just barely in her heart. Nikola pushed down on the plunger, emptying the dark red contents into her and then pulled the needle out tossing it off to the side.  
Rosie opened her bright green eyes after a moment and looked up into Nikola's face, reaching a hand up to pull him down. Nikola grinned and allowed her to pull him down with such a force that their lips crashed together. Helen looked away and made a loud coughing noise, startling Rosie. Rosella had flushed cheeks and her lips were a dark pink from the pressure of their lips pressed together.  
"Well...now that you're all together, how about we figure a way out of here?" Helen smiled and gave Nikola a gentle push over.  
He reached a hand down and helped the younger woman stand up to her feet. She righted her tank top and brushed the dark dirt off of her shorts and thighs before smirking at Helen. Helen went back over to read the glyphs on the walls and Nikola set to trying to get the door open. Rosella walked over to the vampire Queen's chamber and narrowed her eyes slightly as she examined her through the purple haze. So...this is who reigned when Rosmerta died. She glared at the woman and put a hand on the crystal structure, shocked to feel a warmth radiating from it.  
"Hey Nikola...is this supposed to be warm?" She cast a worried glance over her shoulder to Nikola, and watched as he and Helen came over.  
Nikola put his hand on the crystal as well, both stepping back as it suddenly disintegrated into a number of pieces.  
"Nikola?" Helen's voice was incredibly loud to Rosella now, after everything had seemed so quiet...  
"Vampire, remember?" He smirked and glanced over at Rosie.  
She visibly rolled her eyes and took a few steps back, seeing the eyes of the Vampire Queen, no...Afina. Certainly Afina had been awake during the war, and even if she hadn't there would have been memories, stories. Rosella hung around the now closed main entrance, watching Afina closely as she leaned down and dipped her fingers in a still wet spot of Rosella's blood. Her stomach turned as Afina lifted the fingers up to her mouth and licked them clean of blood.  
An amused look on Afina's face turned into a scowl as she turned to look at Rosella. She stood and was next to her in a few strides.  
"Rosmerta's offspring." She stared at the golden flower tied in Rosella's hair and then turned her attentions to Nikola.  
"Then who are you?" Her face looked bored, and that was when Rosella noticed something about Afina.  
The vampire was tanned, whereas the ruling class of Faerie had been pale. A side effect from being forced to live in their mounds during the Great War, while the vampires had ruled above. Rosella already didn't like Afina, not because of the attention Nikola was lavishing on her, that was just icing. It was instinctual for her not to like the vampire. It was much like those modern movies where vampire and werewolves were at war, such a silly notion, but rooted in some truth since there were in fact Faeries that resembled and could even change into something of werewolves.  
The group had moved to another side of the room while Rosella was contemplating, and a secret passage way had opened up.  
"Can I talk to you for a moment...?" Helen grabbed Nikola's sleeve and motioned for Rosella to come over as well.  
She scowled at Nikola and stood next to Helen, leaning away from him slightly.  
"I don t feel safe letting her go first, and I certainly don't feel safe leaving her behind." Helen crossed her arms on her chest and Rosella looked at Nikola.  
"You have a Sasquatch for a butler and you travel the world with history's most notorious murderer, and now you don't feel safe? Helen, green is not a good color on you." Nikola grinned and was rewarded with a light punch from Rosella.  
"Be serious Nikola. This is a serious situation." She sighed and put a hand on her hip, a little flustered at Nikola's behaviour.  
"I would like to say I'm surprised at you my dear Rosie, but she's intelligent, powerful, remarkably well preserved for her age. Everything I look for in a woman, and unlike someone I know, she's actually interested in me." He cast a glance at Rosella and gave her one of those ridiculous smiles.  
"Right, because I kiss everyone that I don't like you little a-" She was cut off from Afina appearing beside them.  
"I can hear you. Vampire remember?" She walked over to the opening and looked down it before turning back to Nikola and the others.  
Rose glared at Afina and nudged Nikola roughly in the ribs as he began his little babbling about wanting to take over the world. Rose ignored his speaking and walked over to the opening. She was shocked to find out that it was a big drop to the bottom and not a tunnel as it had seemed.  
"What is going on here Afina?" Rosella turned on her heel to face the vampire but was pushed back and into the hole by a kick to her chest.  
She screamed the whole way down and was at least thankful that Nikola would be stuck in the hole as well, or at least she hope that was Nikola's shadow falling down just above her. Rosella landed on the floor with a large pop coming from her shoulder.  
"Really?" She cried out and cradled her shoulder with her arm that hadn't popped out of place.  
"Afina, I though we really had something going on there. A kind of heat!" He yelled up but his voice fell on deaf ears, at least as far as anyone that might still be up there was concerned.  
Nikola stood up after a moment, dusting himself off so he didn't look completely unacceptable. He skimmed his fingers over her shoulder and furrowed his eyebrows as he felt that the bone had been displaced and would need to be popped back into place.  
"It's only partially popped out of place, but because you've had vampire blood the ligaments have likely healed over and it's stuck that way. Even if I were to pop it back in it wouldn't heal right. I can probably get the bag down here and at least immobilize the arm and give you some medicine so you don't feel as much pain." He frowned and gently put an arm around her waist to help her stand up.  
Nikola reached out with his powers and magnetically tugged on the metal rings that were on the bags. They fell through the opening and Nikola casually caught a few of them and began rummaging through them. He handed her a large piece of triangle cloth that Rosella held with her uninjured right arm. She frowned deeply at the pain in her shoulder and handed the cloth to Nikola once he was done looking in the bags. He gave her two small red pills that she swallowed readily without water.  
Nikola put the large triangle around her arm and tied it so that the knot rested at the base of her neck, to jeep pressure off of her shoulder.  
"Better?" He asked and placed a small kiss on her temple.  
"Yes..." She turned away from him and slung one of the bags on her right shoulder.  
Nikola frowned slightly and looked as though he might say something to her, but otherwise stayed quiet. He look up at the distance they had fallen and figured that he couldn't jump that high even if he wanted to...and he really wanted to.  
"So how do you propose we get out of here?" She sighed and looked through one of the other two bags that were scattered on the cold, metal floor.  
Nikola spied two ice axes in one of the open bags and picked them up.  
"I'm sure these will come in handy." He smiled at her and she felt a slight pain in her chest, he was an ass sometimes without even doing anything.  
"Can you use those and have me on your back?" She wasn't that concerned because he was after all, a vampire but certainly it would be a strain to carry her and the weight of the bags.  
"Vampire, remember?" He knelt down slightly and gave her time to get situated before begining the long process of 'climbing' up the metal sides of the hole.  
When they finally reached the top Rosella ran with Nikola to find where Afina had taken Helen.  
"When we find her we seriously need to kill her. It's not everyday I almost die and get my shoulder dislocated." She scowled and felt her eyes widen as they came to where Helen and Afina were.  
"Go help Helen, I'll take care of this inbred bitch." Nikola vamped out and began his assault against Afina.  
Rose ran over to Helen and looked at the markings on the raised stand. Helen was pressing a few of the raised buttons and kept looking between them and Nikola. Afina got Nikola pinned just as Helen had reversed the process of the vampires unfreezing.  
"Don't kill him! We want to negotiate." Helen said, taking out the device she and Nikola had used to crack the secret of the Praxian city.  
"Now you want to negotiate?" Afina said in her dark voice, if it wasn't for the voice they got when they vamped out Rose would probably get 8 hours of sleep.  
"The Praxians retreated underground. What if we gave you a way to get to their city?" Helen set the device on the ground and stood up to look at Afina before she even thought about activating it.  
"Helen!" Nikola didn't know where she was going with this but he didn't like it.  
Rose put a finger to her lips and readjusted the bag on her shoulder, wanting to see how Helen would get them out of this situation.  
"I'm listening." Afina had taken back a more normal looking form and began walking over to Helen.  
"This device is a map to the Praxian city. You can take your revenge on them and leave us alone." Helen was a little flustered at the whole situation, but didn't appear to look it to anyone who didn't know her.  
"Deal. But once I conquer them, I will be back." She smiled, and it made Rosella feel sick to the very pit of her stomach.  
Helen activated the device and picked up a bag, quickly listening for directions to get out of this stronghold. They came back to the main chamber and walked up to the entrance, still closed. Nikola bit his thumb and pressed it against one of the glyphs, opening the entrance. They all ran out quickly and hid behind a rock structure as the stronghold blew up from the inside.  
Rose breathed a little heavy, then relaxed against the structure as she realized that it was finally over.  
"Are we all alive?" Helen laughed and lightly patted Rose on the head.  
"Alive? Yeah, probably. Well...most of us at least." Rosella smiled and looked over at Nikola, a look of relief on her face.


	12. Appetite

When they returned from the desert Nikola seemed much more sprightly and pleasant around everyone else. Rosella just attributed it to the fact that now if he did have nay more thoughts of world domination it was the world in his image, not in the image of the previous vampires. At current Rosella was reading in a chair, stuck 'helping' Tesla in his lab for the day. Of course she had just assumed he wanted someone there to keep him on track, but she had so far only been in trouble with Tesla after trying to tidy up the area.

"Nikola...why are you keeping me around? I'm bored just sitting here." She huffed and closed the book, slamming it down on the desk close to her.

There was the faintest hint of tensed shoulder muscles underneath his white shirt, and he turned around to glare at her.

"Then just leave! The only reason you are still sitting there is because you messed up my notes, instead of helping me. Now either stop acting like a child and help out or get out." He turned back to his work that Rosella was still uncertain of.

She stood up from her chair and walked out of the lab, slamming the door behind her. Her face had a slight flush to it and grew even deeper red when she nearly knocked Kate over by accident.

"Oh Kate! I'm sorry." She put a hand on the other woman's to help steady her.

"No worries. What's wrong with you? You and Nikola having a lover's quarrel again?" Kate smirked and crossed her arms, like she knew something.

"Don't you actually have to sleep with someone to be considered lovers? But now that you mention it... He is being a complete ass. I just tried to help clean up his lab area but he's so damn stubborn that he just threw me out!" She grumbled and looked back at the direction she had just come from.

"Well you know what can fix that? A shopping day with your buddy Kate!" Kate grinned and grabbed Rose's arm, not waiting for any form of protest.

"Kate! I don't want to go shopping. It's so boring.." Rosella tugged her arm back from Kate, but was given a playful shove.

Kate rolled her eyes at Rosella and stood in the main entrance with her, twirling the keys to a car on one finger.

"Either you come with me or I'm having the library locked for a week." Kate smirked and nearly jumped for joy when Rose finally gave in and agreed to go.

They had driven out to a street with quite a few clothing shops before she knew it, and Kate had dragged her into one of the shops. It turned out to be a dress shop, small, but a dress shop none the less. There were a few mannequins with finished dress of varying silks and fabrics, and a set of stairs leading up to the work area of the shop.

A kindly older woman sat behind the front counter, her skin a dark tan and wrinkled to the point that it reminded Rose of leather. The light sound of a bell alerted the old woman to their presence, and when she looked up Rose could clearly see that the woman was blind in one eye. Rose felt her cheeks flush a little from nervousness and the duo made their way over to the counter.

"Vhat ken I do for you ladies?" The woman had a thick German accent, she had more than likely lived in Berlin or even Munich.

"Guten Morgen Frau. Wir wollen Bestellung für einige Kleidern." Rose smiled at the womans surprised face.

"Sehr gut. Bitte kommen nach oben, ich müssen Sie beide zu messen." The old woman stood from her seat and motioned for the two to follow her up the stairs.

Kate shot Rose a look but followed when she walked up the stairs behind the old woman.

"So what exactly was that?" Kate raised her eyebrows slightly in interest, she hadn't heard Rose speak in German before and was a little curious as to what was said.

"She's German like I am...was. I just said that we needed to place an order for some dresses and she is going to get our measurements. Don't look so shocked, besides you need a good dress or two. My treat." She winked to Kate and walked up the last few steps into a spacious white room.

Kate looked uneasy but nodded her head. The room had different rolls of fabric, almost making a rainbow of different textures and colors. In the middle of the room was a large three way mirror, and a raised cream circular stand in case the dress that was ordered was too long.

"You vill hef to undress, so I ken get proper measurement." Rosella hadn't realized that they would have to show off a little skin for the measurements.

She looked nervously at Kate and she shrugged her shoulders slightly at the idea, trying to maintain a cool composure.

"How about you go first? I won't peak promise." Kate laughed, patting Rosella on the shoulder.

"Sure thing. But remember, no peaking." She made a small motion with her fingers and Rosella turned around to face the stairs, taking a seat on the top one.

"So what's been going on with you and Nikola?" Rose was certain she could hear the grin in Kate's voice.

"Nothing... Anymore." She sighed lightly, placing her head in her hands.

The second part was said so quietly that Kate had to repeat it to herself a few times before she was certain that Rose had even said it.

"Are you serious? You've actually done..something, with that mad scientist?" Kate sounded surprised, but Rose was certain that most people in Sanctuary at least knew she felt some...affection for Nikola, idiot he could be some days.

"Yes...we've had some fun times when no one was awake." She felt the heat rise to her cheeks and found interest in a piece of lint on her dark jeans.

"Rose, you naughty girl." Rose rolled her eyes and stood when she heard the sounds of Kate pulling on her clothes.

A tap on her shoulder and Rose turned around slightly, to see a smiling Kate. Kate pulled Rose into a hug and patted her on the top of her head.

"Don't be so embarrassed. I'm sure he's a terrific person in the right company." Rose frowned a little and walked over to the oval at the center of the room.

"If you esk me... Der Appetit kommt beim Essen." The old woman waited for Rose to strip down to her underwear and brought the measuring tape around the narrowest part of her waist.

"What did she say?" Rosella laughed a put a hand to her mouth to hide her smile.

"She said, the appetite comes at the eating. It's a German proverb essentially meaning, just do it." Kate made a small noise, but it was lost on Rosella who was wrapped up in the meaning of the phrase.

Nikola was harsh with her, but when it was just the two of them he had been gentle and had made her feel important. She silently scowled herself, but then remembered why she was mad at him in the first place.

* * *

By the time Kate and Rosella returned to Sanctuary it was already dark out and Tania had ran off to bed an hour or so ago. It was to her surprise that Will and Helen had been waiting up for them to get home in one of the study rooms.

"Well...isn't this a surprise. I don't think you've ever waited up on me before Aunt Helen." Rose laughed and sat her bags down on the couch.

"Did you get enough stuff?" Will eyed a few of the bags, opening a few and peering in as curiosity got the better of him.

Rose leaned over and smacked his hand as he tried to open a small black bag. Kate snickered and Helen rolled her eyes at the childish behavior.

"Nothing in that bag is for your eyes. Now if you all will excuse me, I am going to put away my shop therapy items and head off to bed. I am quite exhausted. Good night Will, Kate, Aunt Helen." She walked over and gave Helen a quick peck on the cheek, then gathered up her bags and made her way to her room.

The lights flickered on and she began putting away blouses and tank tops, then came to the black bag she had sitting on her bed. She stared at it for a moment the words of the old lady echoing in her head, even as she opened the bag and laid out the contents on her bed. If action spoke loudly this one would have been a sonic boom, at least by Rosella's standards. A smirk tilted up the right side of her mouth and she ran off to get a shower in before she set her surprise in motion.

When she came out of the shower she toweled off and walked over to the bed, her hands shaking lightly out of anxiety. She had went to a and picked out something...special for what she had planned with Kate for Nikola. At first she was opposed to the idea completely, but she knew that she was quite fond of Nikola and that if she had ever wanted to sleep with anyone in her lifetime it would be him. He had been there for her and he was a truly remarkable man. She wanted to love him, in every sense of the word even if she didn't believe she loved him at this moment.

A black see through robe was slipped onto her shoulders, the darker bands of material strategically placed so that it would be difficult to see her breasts unless she untied the robe. She slipped on her lacy boyshort styled underwear, feeling a little cold as she realized the robe barely covered anything on her. Although, that was the entire point of all this.

She grabbed a thicker robe and wrapped it around her body in case she ran into someone on her way to Nikola's lab. The sash was tied around her waist and she stepped out into the cold floor, hurrying along but remaining quiet so she didn't disturb those that were sleeping.

Upon entering the lab she noted, with some distress, that Nikola was nowhere in sight. There wasn't even a half-empty glass of wine to let her know that he would be returning. She crossed her arms over her chest and frowned then headed for the door, opening it quietly. A deep frowned formed on her face, making her look a little pitiful in the dark hallway. A noise came to her attention and she walked down the hall to Nikola's room, seeing a light coming from the crack under the door. She swallowed the lump in her throat and felt a cold spot form in the pit of her stomach as she raised her hand up and lightly rapped on the door.

Moments later and Nikola was standing in the doorway, his white shirt unbuttoned completely and his hair a spiked mess.

"What is it Rosie?" He smirked and leaned one door against the frame, an eye looking her over.

"Can I talk to you?" Her voice squeaked slightly and she felt the blush creep across her cheeks again, he had a way of making her do that just by looking at her.

He stepped to the side and ushered her in, shutting and locking the door behind her. She wrinkled her nose at the mess in his room, it was just like being in the lab except there were more papers and books, and fewer instruments. His bed was the only thing that had an order, the blankets folded neatly. She took a seat on the edge of his bed and watched as he poured himself a glass of wine.

"What can I do for you at this late hour?" It was a genuine curiosity. The only times he had wandered into her room this late was to cuddle with her, or more recently, to fool around and be close to her.

"Nikola, we've known each other for a long time now. And even though we do fight, I'm really very fond of you." Her cheeks were red as cherry tomatoes by now and it didn't help that he came over and kissed her on the cheek.

"Rosie, I'm fond of you too. You shouldn't be so nervous around me. We may not have slept together, but we certainly have been intimate with each other." His smiled softly and almost looked shocked when he saw a small glimpse of sheer black material as she shifted nervously on the bed.

"I want... I want you Nikola." She felt his eyes boring a hole into her as she stood and untied the first robe, letting it fall to the ground.

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_I will decide in short time whether or not the next chapter will be a lemon or not. Until then I shall leave you...in suspense. ;D_


	13. Lemonade

_Well, I would like to thank those of you who have stayed with me this far. A warning to younger readers, this chapter contains sexual content. And a lemon. So please just skip all the way down to the last...two or three paragraphs, because the rest of the content is not for you. Please remember to review. Thank you! 3_

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Nikola stood shocked for a moment as his eyes roamed the body of the woman standing in front of him. Rosella was wearing a type of sheer black nightgown that tied in the front, soft black material rustled against her skin as Nikola closed the distance between the two of them. He wrapped one arm around her waist and moved a hand to raise her chin up so he could capture her lips in a kiss. She closed her eyes and made a small noise as she felt his tongue find its way out of Nikola's mouth and brush against her lips. The air left her lungs as their tongues met, gently rubbing against each other as Nikola let his hand drop softly down her back to rest on her bottom. To her he tasted like wine, not the kind he usually drank but a strong red wine that had been aged. After all, he really was like a red wine. He was old, far older than her, and he was strong especially after being made into a vampire again…

Her hands went to the shirt he was wearing as they broke apart from the kiss; ever so slowly she pulled the shirt from his body and tossed it amongst the mess on the floor. She let a hand run through his messy hair and silently she wondered if she had interrupted his sleep, though he never really did sleep much even as a vampire when she was growing up. He stepped away from her for a moment, a finger to his lips as he turned around to search for something. Always one for classical things, she watched as he took a large black disc and placed it on the device before bringing the needle down. She paused for a moment as the song played, remembering it as the first thing she had learned to play on the piano. For a moment her fingers moved in the air, Liszt usually did that to her. And this song was of particular interest, it was _Liebesträume No. 3 in A flat_. It always affected her in such an odd way, relaxing yet it made her heart beat a little faster.

She had figured he would do this, just to mask any noise that they would be making so no one would get curious and interrupt them. When he walked back over to her he had removed his belt and shoes, finding it to be fair since she was practically naked already. His hands rubbed along her sides and his lips soon found her skin, planting soft kisses along her neck and collarbone. For the briefest of moments she moaned as he paused feeling blood flowing just beneath her neck. Her body shuddered at the sensation of him being this close to her and knew exactly what he was doing to her. Butterflies danced in her stomach as he gently nipped at her neck and sucked the spot above her vein with care.

Her legs felt like jelly under his touch and she wasn't sure how much more of it she could take before the night was over. Thankfully he became preoccupied with untying her nightgown and was no longer delivering a barrage of love bites to her sensitive neck. His slender fingers held the night gown in place as he gently guided her to sit down on the bed. She leaned against the pillows that were resting on the headboard, noting that he had leaned with her and moved so that one of his legs rested somewhat comfortably between her legs.

His gray eyes stared down at her and bored right into her soul, she couldn't help but blush knowing that there would be no turning back now for either of them. Finally he let the nightgown fall to the sides of her body, revealing the pale flesh that lay underneath. One hand cupped a breast, his thumb gently stroking her nipple as she started to shift about slightly on the bed. He smiled at her and placed a reassuring kiss on her lips, certain to distract her as his other hand traced lazy circles down the front of her stomach. The hand slipped just under her panties and one finger made strong strokes against her clit. Her stomach muscles tensed up and she gripped Nikola's shoulder, moaning softly in the night air.

He had found her clothing to be rather troublesome as of late, he knew she might get mad but vamped out anyways and cut the material from her body. Rosella raised her head slightly and glared at him, resisting the urge she had to hit him on the shoulder.

"Nikola… Ich gerade gekauft habe daß." She was mildly upset over the loss of her undergarments but knew that she could always get more.

A grin replaced his smile before he lowered his face and licked down her stomach, laughing as he felt her muscles jump beneath her skin. She held her breath in anticipation, watching until his face disappeared from her view. A hand pushed apart her thighs slightly and it wasn't a moment later that she felt one of his fingers slip into her womanhood. Her hips moved slightly against his finger, but there was little time to ponder as the finger stroking her clit was soon replaced by Nikola's tongue.

One of her hands clenched the soft covers beneath her, and she found her toes curling slightly at the pleasure of Nikola's tongue. He slipped his finger out of her, making sure that she was wet enough before using two fingers to stimulate her. The stretching sensation was odd to her and she knew that when the time came this would make it a little less painful for her. His tongue flicked across her clit one last time before he brought his thumb to rub against it, in time with the thrusts of his fingers. He gently nipped along the inside of her thigh, pausing as he noted a line of blue that indicated her vein.

"Meine Liebe, darf ich?" Her eyes were clouded over with lust and she bit her bottom lip as she moved so she could see the top of his head.

"Ja, meine Liebe. Aber seien Sie sanft." She watched as he raised his head up, black inky eyes now meeting hers.

Her back arched as sharp teeth bit into her leg, causing a spill of blood on the covers. Nikola did his best to distract her and the teeth in her leg were soon a distant memory, with the steady stimulation he was providing her. It felt as though her body was on fire, shuddering as she was rocked by waves of pleasure. Her head turned to the side and she put a hand to her mouth, crying out softly as she felt Nikola turn his attention back to her womanhood. He lapped up her juices and licked his lips before pulling off his pants and boxers, tossing them to the floor.

She could feel his hardness pressed lightly against her, and turned her head to come face to face with an incompletely vamped out Nikola. Slowly he returned himself back to normal and kissed her softly on the lips, allowing her to lick off the blood from her leg. He didn't know why she had decided to suddenly give up her promise of waiting for sex, but if the hardness of his manhood pressed against her thigh was any indication he rather liked the change.

He looked into her eyes one last time with his forehead pressed to hers, his eyes seeming fuller of emotion that they ever had been before.

"Möchten Sie dies geschehen?" He spoke softly to her, pausing for a moment to plant a reassuring kiss against her cheek.

One hand rose up and she stroked the side of his cheek as she pondered the entire situation. Her cheeks were reddened out of shyness and pleasure; it certainly wasn't something she would have thought about doing with him a year ago. But…in her heart she knew that she loved Nikola, and that no other would replace him in her heart. And so she decided, he should be the one that she would make love to. The only one.

"Ja, ich möchte diese." He nodded his head and pulled back slightly from her, reminding himself that he would have to try not to vamp out.

Her heart rate had gone up as she watched him move, shifting around slightly so that he would be positioned at her entrance. She stopped breathing for what seemed like the longest time as he slowly pushed into her, breaking through her maiden head. He paused as he saw the pain behind her eyes and the tears forming at the corners of her eyes. Leaning down he wiped away the tears with his thumbs and kiss her lips to silence the small whimpers that were coming from her. Seeing her in pain made even his cold heart hurt and he thought about stopping this whole thing right now.

Just as he began to pull out from her Rosella wrapped her legs around him and shook her head, bringing him down against her so she could bury her head in the crook of his neck. Her breathing was strained and it took her a moment before she leaned back enough for him to see her eyes, brilliant green and no longer pained. She moved her hips against his, his eyes closing for a moment at the feel of being completely inside her.

His hands moved down to grip her hips, eyes remaining locked on hers as he began a slow rhythm of moving in and out of her. She closed her eyes and put one of her hands on top of his, making small noises as the pain slowly gave way to pleasure. He leaned down and nipped her bottom lip as he began to pick up his pace a bit more, moving one hand to rest on her breast. Her back arched up as he used his other hand to gently stroke her clit.

A ball of heat had formed in the pit of her stomach, white, hot, passion building up in her as she began to move her hips with Nikola's. She smiled up at him and raised a hand up to his hair, playing with a few random bits of it. There was electricity in the air, the both of them could feel it since it practically radiated off of Nikola's body. Everywhere he touched her body left a tingling shock and she writhed her body in pleasure, tightening the hold of her legs around his body.

His breathing began to shallow out, thrusting deep into her body he moved his hands back to her hips hoping it would keep his rhythm steady. Her hand gripped his arm and she moaned loudly into the air, feeling herself nearly reaching her limit. He crushed his lips to hers in a breathtaking kiss, licking along her lips. She moved her hands along to his back, fingernails raking along his back to leave red lines of blood that would disappear shortly after. Rosella was not as lucky to be a vampire like Nikola. He had started to vamp out as he lost control, his nails digging into her hips painfully. But neither of the two noticed as he thrusted hard into her, producing a loud cry from her lips. She pressed her body against his as she felt an orgasm shake her body with pleasure. Her vision contracted and she saw white, her breathing now beginning to steady out. He grunted against her ear and vamped out completely before he dug his fangs into her neck. She bit her lip and threw her head back against the pillow as she felt him give one final thrust before his seed emptied into her.

At that moment she looked out the window to see a clash of lightning across the sky. She waited until he had let go of her neck and had lapped up any that spilled onto her neck before she moved around to sit up, with Nikola still in front of her. He noticed there was a change in the room; it didn't smell of sweat as it should have but instead smelled like…roses. Nikola looked over at her flushed face and planted a small kiss on her cheek, brushing some of the stray hairs out of her face.

"Are you alright Rosie?" She looked over at him and slowly nodded her head, her neck was in a little pain and she was sore in between her legs, but other than that she was fine.

"Yes. I think I'll need a shower though." She smiled and kissed him softly on the cheek, swinging her legs over to the side of the bed.

He smiled and stood up from the bed, picking her up bridal style and carrying her over to the bathroom. She began to protest but he just shook his head and stood her up in the shower, turning the water on so that is was slightly warm. "Maybe I should join you?" He smirked and stepped into the shower with her, softly kissing the marks on her neck.

"I thought the point of a shower was to get clean?" She felt a little shaky on her legs, and figured that he might as well stay in case her legs decided to be difficult.

Nikola studied her neck for a moment and sighed as he realized that the little bloody holes weren't going away. He brought his wrist up to his mouth and bit down hard, bringing his wrist around to her mouth so that she could drink a little. She looked back at him, wincing at the strain in her neck and knew that she would have to drink his blood. He wrapped an arm around her waist as she sucked softly on his wrist, she was very reluctant to drink blood since she wasn't a technical vampire but she didn't want to be in pain. His wrist healed almost instantly when she pulled away; wiping her lips to make sure no blood was leftover.

He smiled and kissed her, ignoring the sounds of a storm starting to rage outside. In this moment, he only saw her and only felt her skin against his. To him there couldn't be anything else in the world. She smiled and returned the kiss, then gave a soft yawn as she playfully hit him on the shoulder.

"No more. I want to go to bed, and you're delaying that. As much as I love you Nikola, you need to let me take a shower." He sighed heavily and nodded his head, grabbing the bottle of shampoo to her right.

She raised an eyebrow but turned around at his direction and tilted her head back. He squeezed some of the shampoo out into his hand and began to massage it into her hair and scalp. Her head leaned back into his hand and she made a small noise, closing her eyes. She had told him she wanted to get clean, but he just simply wasn't going to listen to her too much. He quickly washed the shampoo out of her hair and turned her around to capture her lips in a nearly bruising kiss.

He lifted her up and directed her to wrap her legs around him, pushing his manhood into her. She blushed a light shade of pink, the vampire blood hadn't taken away the soreness she felt between her legs but she wasn't bleeding anymore. Her back was pressed up against the cold tiles of shower and she tried to arch her back so they wouldn't touch her but Nikola was in the way. He wasted no time in thrusting into her, but he was still careful since it had been very little time since her first time making love.

Rosella moaned softly, nipping hard at Nikola's exposed neck. He smirked and pushed her harder against the tiles with each thrust, she knew her back would be an interesting pattern of square impressions from the tile. Her eyes half closed in pleasure as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, taking to nibbling softly on his earlobe. She moaned into his ear and cautiously moved to kiss him on the lips. He returned the kiss, each thrust bringing him closer to going over the edge.

"Nikola…" She moaned softly, entangling her fingers in that spiked mess of hair.

"Ja, Rosie?" He sounded out of breath, but his motions showed no sign of letting up or slowing down.

"Do…you love me?" She bit her lip, unsure of whether or not she really wanted to know the answer to that question.

He didn't answer her at first, in truth that should have told her everything she needed to know. But, there was the…situation right now to deal with; she lied to herself by saying that he was just busy. His pace had slowed significantly, showing he was at least thinking about what she had said.

Nearly an hour later they had finished up in the shower, and had actually gotten themselves clean. The question hung in the air and Nikola had done a pretty good job of avoiding giving her an answer. They both had towels wrapped around their bodies and Rosella sincerely missed the Faeries right about now because she wouldn't have to worry about drying off. Nikola walked over to his dresser, carefully avoiding a stack of books that would have taken Rosella out. He got out two pairs of boxers and a wife beater; he motioned Rosella over as he laid the items on the bed. She looked from the clothing back up to him.

"You've got to be joking." She eyed the clothing with much suspicion, there was no way she could wear his clothes they would be much too big.

"It's either this or you'll have to lay in bed naked. I vote for the naked option." He smirked even when she scowled at him and made him turn around while she got dressed.

"Really Rosie? I saw more than that, no need to be shy." She tapped him on the shoulder when she was finally dressed.

He raised an eyebrow as he could nearly see through the white wife beater, but he had to admit she did look good in it. She rolled her eyes and moved to go sit down on the side of the bed. Nikola came up beside her and kissed the top of her head before he pulled the covers back on the bed. He climbed in next to her and leaned over her so that he could turn out the light on his bedside table.

"Nikola, you never answered my question." She watched as he pulled the covers up over both of them, and placed an arm around her middle.

"Rosie, I know that you love me. You have to understand that for the longest time the only person I ever came close to being in love with was Helen. But you…I have strong feelings for you. I want to protect you, and I want to always be with you. I'm just not sure if I love you…" He never wanted to tell her that. It was the truth but he knew just how much it would hurt her to hear him say that, and he couldn't very well lie to her.

Rosella nodded her head and scooted to the far side of the bed, her shoulders shaking with the silent tears she was shedding. She still loved Nikola, it was impossible for her to not love him. Her body ached, more so now from the sorrow that was plaguing her thoughts. He wanted to hold her, to comfort her, to whisper sweet nothings in her ear and make everything better. But, he also knew that she wouldn't want his comfort right now so he did the best thing he could do. He rolled over, feeling his heart break at the smell of her tears.


	14. The End

_The lyrics in this chapter do not belong to me. They are the property of Simple Plan, I don't own them._

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Rose felt that her eyes were completely bloodshot as she awoke, early enough in the morning that the sun had not yet risen. Next to her she could feel Nikola's back pressed against her, his breathing was evened out; an indication that he was either still asleep or very good at pretending. She looked over her shoulder at his sleeping form, still tangled up in the covers with his mouth partially open. Slowly she pulled the covers off of her body and walked over to the door, stepping out into the hallway.

Still even in these early hours the Sanctuary was quiet, save for the patter of Rosella's feet on the cold hardwood floor and the low rumbling thunder outside. She sighed as she walked into her room, it felt cold without someone else in there but it was better than sharing the bed with someone that didn't love her back. As she crawled under the warm covers of her bed she found that she couldn't bring herself to go back to sleep. There was a small fluttering of wings then a flash of light as Rei, the little Púca changed into a little black rabbit and snuggled against Rose's body.

"Sorry Rei. I must have forgotten to close the window again." The bunny made a small noise and looked up at her with its dark red eyes.

She titled her head at the noise and wondered what was wrong with him. He nudged her with his nose but when she showed no sign of moving he changed back into an adorable pixie. Rei fluttered away from her, pulling on a strand of her hair until she got up.

"Ouch. What is it Rei?" She pulled her hair back from the little faerie and wagged a finger at him.

He made a small motion to his stomach, and then brought a hand up to his mouth. She rolled her eyes and stood up for a moment, realizing that Tania probably hadn't made him anything to eat. Rei perched himself on her shoulder, finding the time to play with the strands of her hair. It was somewhat annoying, but it didn't really bother her too terribly much. On her way out the door she picked up the book Tania had arrived with, hoping to get some reading done while she was tending to Rei's needs.

She opened the door to the hallway; the book tucked under one arm as she made her way to the kitchen. Rei fluttered to sit on the edge of the counter top, watching as Rosella moved over to the fridge. A glance was cast back at the Púca as she figured out what he would eat. Taking a bag of salad out and a container of ginger dressing for herself, she walked back over to the table.

She laid everything out and grabbed two bowls and a fork so she could have an early morning snack. Opening the bag she could nearly smell the crispness of the lettuce, especially when it was poured out a bag. She pushed a smaller bowl towards Rei and gently poked at her own bowl of salad while using one hand to crack open the book.

Her eyes narrowed as she scanned the pages, they were old and somewhat worn but the most surprising part was that the pages were completely blank. She rolled her eyes and slammed the book shut, pushing it far away from her to the other side of the table. _'What is the point of a book with no words…?'_ Silently she wondered if there was some sort of magic to it that she had missed, or perhaps it truly was just a blank book.

Her eyes wandered to the window, watching as the sun climbed up into view to decorate the morning sky with purples and shades of yellow. In the hallways she could hear the stirrings of some of the more professional of the Sanctuary residents. Remembering her attire she placed the bowls in a sink and picked up a very sleepy and full Rei, grabbing the book as she made her way back to her room.

Rei was placed in the bed with the covers pulled around her slightly, leaving Rose to walk over and shut the window tightly so that some semblance of warmth would be in the room. She changed into a white button up shirt and black slacks, with dark green flats for a touch of color. Her hair flared out behind her back, it had been getting long ever since the first time she had been introduced to Nikola's blood. She grimaced as she realized that another hair cut would be in order.

Leaving her hair down she went over to her desk and picked up the golden rose, tying it around her wrist like a bracelet. She brushed out her hair some then locked her door as she left her room for the day. So far so good, she hadn't seen Nikola or anyone else for that matter but it would make things easy if he just stayed away for a little while. Passing by Helen's lab she noticed that she and Will were busy doing research, and she could barely stop her curiosity.

Helen was looking into a microscope at some manner of slide, and Will was sitting next to her typing information into a computer. He looked up as he felt someone standing behind him, trying to peer around to see what he was doing.

"Something I can help you with Rose?" He looked up at her through his glasses, finding it a little strange she had come over to the labs when there wasn't really anything to do.

"Yeah…no. What are you guys doing?" She rested her arm lazily on his shoulder and looked over to Helen, watching her closely.

"We're actually taking a look at your genetics. And we've found out some very promising information. Your DNA is similar in structure to Nikola's save the fact that yours has a number more strands; after the vampire blood was introduced into your system it seems to have unlocked the dormant genes that your species does not actively have without the vampire blood." Helen ran a hand through her hair and leaned back in her chair, motioning for Rose to sit down.

"From what we can tell, it's take your entire body system and super charged it with the vampire cells. It very well may have lengthened your life significantly." Will stood from his seat, offering it to Rose.

"So long as I don't get shot or anything…" She frowned and sat down in the chair, crossing her legs at the ankles as Helen spoke to her.

"Well, yes. But even then I believe the blood has shown that it can heal you quite rapidly, although your body does reject the vampire blood on some level since your genetics are quite different from us humans." Rose nodded her head slightly, putting a hand on her shoulder in a nervous gesture.

Nikola had bitten her last night, though it wasn't entirely his fault. She had seduced him and didn't tell him not to bite her; it was just a hazard from sleeping with a vampire that so rarely got to sink his teeth into actual meat. Will saw the small action but said nothing, just stood there and studied the muddled expression across her face. Feeling Will staring at her she removed her hand casually and looked up at him, the motion causing some strands of hair to fall over the scars.

"Well, nice to know that I can at least have a lengthy life…" She smiled weakly, trying to maintain some normal appearance.

"Indeed. But…you do have a way of getting out of it, don't think of it as a life sentence." Rose widened her eyes slightly and shook her head.

"No, Aunt Helen I would never think that. I was just thinking…I've had vampire blood already, Nikola's and source blood. It was just a thought, about how much my life had been extended from having that blood. That's all, I actually think and extension would be quite…nice." In truth, she didn't know about living any longer that what she naturally should.

The thought was a scary one as she sat there, with someone who had lived more than one lifetime. It seemed like such a hard life, so much could be accomplished yet so much could be lost…like children. Her thoughts had wandered back to Ashley Magnus for the first time in a long time. Rose had been away at school when she received a phone call from Nikola; Ashley was dead, Helen was beside herself with grief, and John had disappeared to put an end to the Cabal. She was pulled out of her reverie by a knocking on the metal frame of the lab's doorway.

All eyes turned to a very frustrated looking Nikola with most of his hair sticking straight up. Rose felt her stomach do a flip flop at seeing him but forced her features to remain neutral.

"We have a problem." He frowned slightly and let his sights fall on Rose a moment before looking over at Helen.

"What's wrong Nikola?" Will walked over to Nikola with Helen following close behind.

It took Rose a moment to stand and she eventually stood behind the group, not wanting to get too close to the center of attention.

"We received a phone call. Finvarra wants to meet with us, today." Rosella felt herself wince visibly; she and Nikola had taken his youngest child without him even knowing.

Helen cast a glance to Rose before she ushered everyone out of the room, Will and herself heading into her office and leaving Nikola and Rose alone in the hallway. They looked at each other for a moment, each having something they wanted to say to the other but no words came from them.

"He'll want to take you away, you know that." Rose looked away from him, and walked down the halls to Helen's office.

It would be a fair exchange, after all what need would there be for Tania if he had Rosella. She furrowed her brows and knocked on the door before entering Helen's office. Will was leaning against the desk, and Helen was seated behind it her expression dark.

"What are we going to do about this?" She crossed her arms over her chest and heard Nikola enter the room then shut the door.

"He is your father. It is up to you whether or not you want to see him. Though, given the circumstances I would urge you to push it off so we can have the appropriate security present." Helen folded her hands on top the desk, somewhat afraid of what the answer would be.

"I want to meet with him, as soon as possible. He has no reason to try and kill me since I'm his oldest child. We owe him at least this much for taking his daughter from him." Nikola stiffened behind her; apparently that was the wrong answer.

"If you're certain we will obtain the number he called from and set up a meeting. I suppose we could meet them here in my office. Go off and get ready, I'll make the arrangements for you." Rose nodded her head and turned around, brushing past Nikola.

He followed after her and waited until they were out of hearing range from the office before roughly grabbing her wrist to make her turn around. Rose narrowed her eyes at him and attempted to pull her hand back but he had superior strength.

"Just what do you think you're doing? What if he tries to take you away from…us?" His eyes began to turn that familiar black color around their edges.

"If he asks me to leave with him then I will. There is nothing holding me here Nikola." She said his name as though it left a bad taste in her mouth.

_I've been trying to tell you something_

_But you never understand_

_I feel like we've been going 'round in circles_

"And I suppose what we shared meant nothing to you?" He released her wrist, feeling a pang of guilt as she rubbed it softly.

"Nikola…I love you, last night was a little rough but I wouldn't trade it for anything. You don't love me, and you probably never will. I can't be in a relationship with someone who can't love me, it isn't fair." Her eyes began to water slightly, threatening to release the built up tears.

His gaze softened and reached out to touch her shoulder, but felt a pain in his heart as she recoiled from his touch and ran off down the hallway. Nikola felt himself vamp out in anger and he hit the wall closest to him, punching through to bits of the plaster. But she had been right, he didn't love her. He didn't even love Helen completely even though he felt something for her. It was all a confusing situation for him, he had wanted to love her but it's something that couldn't be rushed by any means. Of course he cared about her, he never would have slept with her if he didn't, but love…it was an entirely different creature.

_Two Hours Later_

Will and Henry had taken the liberty of arranging two couches in Helen's office for the meeting. Rose had requested that only Tania and Helen be present but as usual Nikola was in no mood to listen to something he didn't want to do. Finvarra was seated on one of the couches in what could pass for street clothes for a king; a black suit with a white button up shirt underneath. The woman next to him was dressed as though she was going to a funeral; in a black dress that came to her knees complete with a pair of black pumps. The woman had hair of a rich black with light signs of graying at the roots, her eyes were what first attracted the attention of Rosella, and she had three different shades of blue in her eyes that formed rings around her iris. So this was Tania's mother, and by default royal consort of Finvarra.

Tania sat across from her parents, sitting on the right side of the couch while Rosella sat on the other. Nikola leaned against Helen's desk, his arms crossed and a stern look on his face at the sight of Finvarra. Helen had chosen to sit at her desk since it seemed to be the closest thing to the middle of the two groups.

"I suppose I should start first. You took Tania from me without cause, but that is not the reason that I am not happy. Tania is no longer my rightful heir, even though you were not born from a proper marriage. I most certainly would have allowed you to leave of your own free will, and Tania would have been given to her mother." His eyes were soft as his spoke but even Rosella couldn't ignore the tone he tried to hide.

"I am sorry for taking her from you, but I had my doubts about what would happen to her. I was simply looking out for…my half-sister." It felt like an odd word to her, she had been looking out for the younger girl but it just didn't seem to be natural calling Tania her sister.

"Noble intentions, but I assure you nothing more would have happened to her. I ask that you allow her to go with her mother, and I have a proposition for you as well Rosella." Nikola finally looked over to Rosella, she seemed tense at first just being in the same room with Finvarra and his wife.

"Your sister is turning 18 in 8 months, and I would like for you to stay with us until that time. Just to feel out the position, learn our customs. You are our heir apparent and we would like for you to have some formal education about us before you make the decision to deny or accept the throne." Helen's eyes grew wide and Nikola nearly rolled his eyes at the offer.

"And what are the conditions of this offer, were I to accept?" She wanted to take his offer so badly, if only to just get away from Nikola for a little while and cool off.

"No conditions, you may even come back and visit. I only ask that you honestly try your hardest with your studies." Rose looked over to Nikola, as if she were trying to read her mind and she what she should do.

_I've been around the world_

_And I've seen so many things_

_I can't even tell you where I'm going_

"I accept. Just tell me when we'll leave and I will make the proper arrangements for my things." A surprised noise erupted from Helen and Nikola seemed as if he would fall over in shock; even Finvarra himself was slightly surprised at such a quick response.

"If you're certain, you should be ready to leave by the end of the week. I have recently purchased a villa in Italy, a touch of nostalgia you see. So we will not be returning to the mound for some time. If this is alright with you?" Rose nodded her head slightly and stood up, prompting the others to rise.

"I'll be ready. I look forward to seeing you then." Finvarra nodded his head, watching as Tania and her mother left the room first.

"I will send a car around for you at 8 am sharp and then we will leave." He left the room, leaving Rosella to deal with Nikola and Helen.

"That's it? You're just going to leave like that?" His rage boiled inside of him, he didn't want her to leave.

"Nikola, she's an adult. Did you honestly think she would stay here forever? Rosella, you have been like a second child to me. I am sad to see you go, but I know you will visit?" Helen rose from her seat and walked over to Rose, pulling her into a big hug.

"Of course Aunt Helen. I could never stay away from the place for long, besides it's only 8 months then I'll be back here to spend time with all of you." She wiped a few of her own tears away before she pulled back from the hug.

"Yes, of course. Well, I suppose you would like some help packing?" Helen smiled and gave a small laugh as she and Rose left Nikola alone in the room.

_What can I do when you're gone  
When it feels so wrong  
What can I say  
To make you wanna stay_

Nikola stood alone in his lab, in one hour Rose would be ushered away to Italy, away from him. This entire week he had been like a ghost in the Sanctuary, wandering the rooms hoping that the solution to this problem would present itself. Even after talking with Helen, there was nothing that could be done to keep her where she was wanted. He was kicking himself for not being able to love Rosie back like she deserved to be. It didn't help that he had been banned from her room and was forced to spend his nights in his own bed, the smell of roses permanently affixed to her side of the bed.

He heard a voice over the intercom, calling everyone into the main foyer to see Rosella off. In his mind he wondered…whether she would want to see him or would prefer him to stay away. By no mechanics of his own, his body slowly moved until he was standing in the foyer watching as Rosella exchanged a few tearful goodbyes before she stopped in front of him.

_Don't leave me this way  
Cause it feels so wrong_

_Let's stop all these games  
Cause I just can't say goodbye_

She saw his sunken eyes, the disheveled appearance and knew that this was going to be difficult to say goodbye. For all the pain she felt in her heart, he would be feeling the same as soon as she left and was out of his life even temporarily. He raised his head, his grey eyes meeting hers for the first time in days and it felt…wrong to leave him. She faltered for a moment, tears spilling from her eyes and her arms wrapping around him in a tight hug.

At first he didn't know what to do so he just stood there until his instincts finally kicked in and he hugged her back, letting his hands rest on the small of her back. He moved back from the hug but wasn't letting her go just yet, as their eyes met all of their problems didn't seem to matter so long as they were together.

_Don't, don't let me go  
It's not the end_

She smiled and bit her lip softly as he wiped away the tears from her cheeks, then he placed a small kiss against her lips. For that one moment in time, everything was as it should be but when they finally broke apart Rose could barely stop herself from crying.

"Rosie, don't cry. We'll see each other again. It's not the end." She calmed herself down slightly and nodded, kissing him on the cheek before she looked around at everyone one last time and left.

As she walked out the door Nikola stood there, waiting until he no longer saw a flash of pale skin or the glint of red hair that he had come to…be fond of. He placed a hand over his heart, hoping that the pain he felt would subside after some time.

* * *

_Well ladies and gentlemen, there you have it. The final chapter of It's All in the Genes. And I have to say, I was kind of dragging my feet with this just because I didn't want it to be over yet. However, if I get enough people that want a sequel I will comply and write a follow up. As always, please review._


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